


Of Snow and Powdered Sugar

by louisnoel



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bakery, Bakery, M/M, and hinata is his dealer, basically kageyama develops a cookie addiction, worst summary ever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-21
Updated: 2015-10-21
Packaged: 2018-04-27 06:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5038198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louisnoel/pseuds/louisnoel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>KageHi AU. Hinata owns a bakery and Kageyama turns into a regular because of those damn good cookies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Snow and Powdered Sugar

He closed his eyes against the heat hitting his face when he opened the oven. The sweet smell of fresh chocolate and vanilla cookies followed right after. He inhaled as deeply as his lungs allowed him to, as if trying to catch the whole of the smell and not let the smallest amount of it go to waste.

The baking trays were hot against his hands even though he was wearing oven mittens. He was glad when he could dump the heated metal back in the oven after shaking the cookies off of it, glad when he could take the mittens off after handling countless trays and even more cookies, glad when he could wipe the accumulated sweat from his brow. A glance out of the small window revealed that it was snowing. The tiny crystals were gathering in a heap on the other side of the glass, and the image made him think of powdered sugar.

Humming, he turned back to the cookies. The icing for them was waiting already, citrus a sharp and distinct note in the air. Licking his lips, he set to work.

* * *

The sound of the familiar bell chiming was followed by a set of light footsteps. Hinata dashed up to the before-unattended counter and put on a smile that was sure to warm anyone from the biting cold outside. "Good afternoon!"

On the other side of the counter, a tall man with jet-black hair covered in melting snowflakes was frowning down at the variety of baked goods the bakery offered. His nose and ears were coated in pink blush from the cold weather.

"Hey! Good afternoon!" Hinata repeated himself, jumping up to make a point of his own presence.

The other man looked up to him, a startled expression blinking out of dark blue eyes. "Right," he said, voice muffled by the scarf wound around his neck and chin as he lowered his face towards the big pastries section again. "Good afternoon."

"How can I help you?" Hinata asked. Yes, he was irritated at the man rather talking to cake than him but he didn't let it show.

The man hummed and pointed at a stack of cinnamon rolls, then at the bagels. "One each."

"All right." Hinata pulled on a thin paper glove to not touch the pastries directly, took them out of the display, wrapped them in a thin sheet of paper each and then stuffed them in a paper bag. "Anything else?"

"No. This is..." His eyes darted to the loaves of bread in the back shelf behind Hinata and fixated them. "It's fine."

"Okay." Hinata glanced to the bread, then back at the man, but he seemed lost in thought. Hinata cleared his throat and only started talking when the other man's eyes rested on him. "We're making a new sort of cookies and giving them out for free to our customers so they can try them out and tell us what they think. You can have a couple."

"Yes."

Hinata ran into the kitchen and back out as fast as his feet would carry him, a couple of the still warm cookies shoved into a second paper bag. The man was again staring at the bread. What was up with him? "This makes 230 yen total." The man put a 1,000 yen bill on the counter and Hinata gave him the appropriate change and the two paper bags. "Have a nice day," Hinata said. The man nodded, and exited into a snowstorm. Hinata didn't feel too bad about the irony.

* * *

Hinata was busy restocking the bread shelves with fresh, warm loaves when the bell chimed behind him. He decided to finish the task at hand first and didn't turn around when he greeted the newcomer. "Good afternoon!"

"I was wondering whether you needed a stool for this."

The voice was gruff and deep, and Hinata knew at once who he was dealing with. Turning around, last loaf clasped in his hands, he came face to face with the black-haired, blue-eyed man with the social skills of a demented daffodil. "I'm not _that_ tiny," Hinata said, biting back a mixture of resentment, anger, and jealousy at the other man's height.

Those blue eyes were moving Hinata's body up and down. It was unnerving. "I see."

Hinata ran a hand through his hair and gave a ragged sigh. "Well, how can I help you today?" He aimed for one of his better smiles.

"This," the man pointed at a doughnut with lime green icing.

Hinata put on a glove, pried it out of the display and put it into a paper bag. "Anything to go with this?"

"Actually," the man was looking Hinata straight in the eyes now, "I came here today because I liked the test cookies."

"So you want more of 'em?"

"Yes, please."

_Please_ he said. Hinata grinned toothily and returned from the kitchen in the blink of an eye with a fair amount of cookies already packed away. "I get 120 yen from you, please." Money changed owners as did the pastries. "Have a nice day," Hinata said.

"Yes, you, too." And with that, the man hurried out the door. Hinata was glad that it wasn't snowing today.

* * *

"How come it's always your shift?" the man asked on the fourth consecutive day that he came to get more of those cookies. He didn't even bother with buying anything anymore, and Hinata didn't mind. Eventually, he would, he was sure.

"Well," Hinata said, coming out of the kitchen with a bag full of still warm cookies, "have you read the sign outside?" The other man shook his head in response, his hair whipping from side to side. It was kind of cute. Hinata giggled. "Well, it says 'Hinata's place in the sun'."

The other man snorted. "The name's ridiculous."

"It's great! My great-grandfather came up with it!"

"Ah, so you're also a Hinata?"

Hinata placed the paper bag on the counter and pointed to his name tag. "Haven't you bothered to read this?"

The other man leaned forward over the counter and squinted at the name tag as if he were short-sighted. "Hinata Shouyou." Then he took a step back and regarded Hinata with his usual, bored-seeming look. "Is that you?"

"Duh. Are you stupid?" The man's expression hardened into a façade of rage. Hinata gulped and threw his hands up. "I'm taking it back! You're probably just a very preoccupied and busy person and didn't notice it because of this!"

The man nodded and his expression softened. "This sounds about right."

"Yeah? So what do you do?" Hinata leaned on the counter with his elbows, resting his head in his hands.

"I go to university."

"Ah, being a student must be nice! What do you major in?"

"I study sports medicine." The man fumbled around with his scarf and fixed it with his eyes. "It's hard and tiring. This is why I need those cookies."

Hinata scrunched his face up. "I fail to see the connection."

"It's obvious!" The man's head shot up and he looked Hinata straight in the eyes. "Your cookies are the only thing that's worked helping me clear my head! I need them for my sanity!"

"Wow." Hinata blinked. The man's eyes positively sparkled, and Hinata's features melted into a grin. "I'm glad the cookies help you."

"Yes. For some reason, they help me focus and study. And to top it off, they taste," he wriggled his fingers, "so good!"

"Thank you!" Now Hinata was beaming. Pride swelled in his chest. "I came up with the recipe myself."

"Okay." The man blinked. Hinata's lips drew into a thin line, and he was close to pouting.

"What's your name anyway?" he asked, changing the topic to suppress his oncoming anger.

"Kageyama." Hinata raised his eyebrows. He wanted the full name. "Kageyama Tobio."

Hinata opened his mouth to comment on this new revelation when the bell chimed and a gust of cold air penetrated the room. A short, blonde girl walked inside, side-eyed Kageyama rather suspiciously, and smiled at Hinata. "Hello."

"Yachi! Hi!" Hinata grinned at her.

Kageyama blinked, a deer caught in the headlights. "I had better get going." He grabbed the paper bag containing the cookies from the counter and made straight for the door. It slammed shut before Hinata had realised just what was happening.

"Who was that?" Yachi asked. Her expression was a curious mix of concern and fright.

Hinata sighed. He massaged his temples; why was he getting a headache now? "New regular. Apparently, he's a shy one."

* * *

Kageyama didn't come the next day. Nor the full next week. Hinata bit his cheek at the irony that cute, harmless Yachi of all people seemed to have frightened Kageyama away for good. He had already accepted that he would not come in today, either, when, at exactly two to eight in the evening, the bell chimed and Kageyama came tumbling inside.

His contracted pupils looked like tiny dots in his wide-eyed stare, his chest was heaving up and down with the effort of someone who had just sprinted for a few kilometres, his hair stuck out at odd angles where it was not flattened by the damp of snow, and his whole body was pressed back first against the now closed door of the bakery.

"What the hell, Kageyama?" Hinata said. He was finishing up work and just about to count the cash earned today when the other man had stormed in.

Kageyama was so out of breath that he couldn't get his voice to do more than a weak dog impression instead of forming comprehensible Japanese words. His knees buckles under him and he slid down the door, still gasping for air that wouldn't satisfy his lungs.

"Wait a sec, I'm getting you some water." Hinata dashed into the kitchen and poured a glass of water from the tab, then sprinted to Kageyama as fast as he could without spilling too much of the beverage. "Here, drink up." He held the glass to Kageyama's mouth, the latter giving Hinata the dirtiest of looks while he sipped from the glass.

As soon as he finished, he growled, "I'm not three years old."

"Yeah, well, how old are you?" Hinata rolled his eyes. Here he was, trying to be a good Samaritan, and what for?

Kageyama folded his arms. "I'm 23."

"Me, too," Hinata said, and didn't know why. But striking up a conversation couldn't hurt, could it? He licked his lips and went straight to the heart of the matter. "Why did you come here?"

"Have you looked outside?"

At these words, Hinata rose to his feet and checked the darkness out of the windowed front of the bakery. The street lights illuminated the snowflakes blown everywhere by the storm, and the eerie howl of the wind and the rustling of naked tree branches underlined the scary noises in the dark night. "Oh."

Kageyama's breathing had almost slowed down to a normal pace by now. "I ran all the way here from the gym."

Only now did Hinata notice the bag stuffed with Kageyama's gym clothes. "You work out?"

"Good thing, too, or I wouldn't have made it here."

Hinata drew his eyebrows down in a frown. "If you hadn't worked out, you would have gone home, right?" Kageyama gave a slight nod. "Then you wouldn't have been caught up in this storm at all!"

Kageyama's head snapped around to Hinata so fast that the latter feared Kageyama might hurt himself. He seemed fine, though. His eyes were narrowed to slits, and he gave off an aura worse than the raging weather outside. "Don't you dare criticise my passion." Hinata swallowed audibly. Then Kageyama's eyes cleared up and Hinata felt himself relax. "Also, it doesn't matter anyway. I made it somewhere safe."

"About that..." Hinata reached for the back of his neck, fingers catching strands of his orange locks. "I was about to close up, you know."

"Okay."

"Don't 'okay' me! This means you're supposed to leave." Hinata's eyes flickered to the windowpanes. He chewed on his lower lip. "But I can't very well make you in this weather." He returned his gaze to the still slumped form of Kageyama. "And you're blocking the door anyway."

"So you'll let me stay?" Kageyama drew his legs towards his body and pushed himself up, reaching for his bag as he did so. He looked like a mountain all right next to Hinata.

"Do I have a choice?" Hinata reached into his pockets for the key to the front door and locked it. Kageyama remained silent, just pulling his gym bag over his shoulder and head, so Hinata went over to the counter and took the cassette out of the cash register. "I still have to cash up."

"Okay."

Hinata went into the kitchen, and when he didn't hear footsteps behind him, he turned around. "Do you want to crash _there_ like a hobo or what? Come on!" Kageyama did as he was bid, following Hinata through the kitchen and another door set in the wall that led to a tiny room hosting no more than a small safe and a desk with a calculator and a pencil lying on top of it. Hinata set the cassette onto the desktop and fetched two simple chairs from the room's corner. "This is gonna be boring for you."

"It's fine. It's my first time watching someone count money."

Hinata snorted. How could Kageyama be so deadpan? "How come I haven't seen you around the last week or so?" Hinata asked while he took all the money out of the cassette and sorted it by value.

"I had an upset stomach."

"Had one too many of the cookies after all, huh?"

Kageyama hesitated. When he spoke, his voice was muffled by his scarf. "Seems about right." He remained quiet for the seconds Hinata looked at him out the corners of his eyes, curious. Only when he went back to counting, Kageyama said, mouth free of his scarf, "This blonde girl. Who is she?"

"Yachi! She's one of my friends from school."

Kageyama narrowed his eyes. "Friends you say?"

"Yes? She's obviously too young to be my mum."

And that was that. Kageyama stayed quiet for the remainder of the time Hinata needed to count the money and lock it in the safe, leaving his mind to its own devices. What was Kageyama's problem with Yachi? They didn't know each other, did they? Where they old enemies, or rivals, or bullies...?

After he had finished up, Hinata kept glancing at Kageyama's impassive face as he was carrying the cassette back to the register. Kageyama was, from Hinata's observation, either lost deep in thought or spaced out thinking nothing at all. It was hard to tell with his face. Well, he was still following him around.

"Some of this," Hinata opened his arms in an encompassing gesture, "is going to be stale tomorrow so if you're positive you're not catching a stomach bug again, feel free to take some upstairs."

"Upstairs?" Kageyama asked, already reaching for the bagels.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you! I live right above the bakery with my family."

"...Your family?" Kageyama had conjured a big paper bag out of nowhere and was stuffing it with doughnuts.

"They'll be fine with me having a friend stay over." Hinata went for a broad smile.

Kageyama's face told him he wasn't convinced at all. He pinched his nose and muttered to himself, "Friends?" Hinata chose not to react.

"Well, we can go as soon as you're ready," Hinata said, hand hovering above the light switch.

Kageyama's bag was full to the brim. "Okay, I'm good, I think." He turned and walked past Hinata into the kitchen. Hinata eyed the bag with a deep frown. Kageyama wasn't planning on making this his dinner substitute, was he? Or stuffing himself with countless bagels and doughnuts just for the sake of it? For fun? Was it one of his pastimes? He was pulled back to reality when a muffled voice called, "Where are you?"

"Right behind you!" Hinata flicked the light switch, entered the kitchen, locked its door and dashed towards Kageyama. He was standing in the middle of the room and glancing around with a suspicious air, as if he feared Yachi might jump out from under one of the tables. "We have to go this way," Hinata said and took off towards a small door etched in-between two large shelves. It wasn't placed well but everyone here had long since learned to shut up about it and deal with it.

"Will we run into your family members?" Kageyama asked. His voice was so faint it was almost inaudible.

Hinata grinned up at him. "What, you gonna chicken out or something?"

"No, but I'd feel out of place. I'm bad at making small talk with strangers."

"You don't say." They took off their shoes, Hinata opened the door and, because Kageyama remained rooted to the spot, walked through first, flicking the kitchen's light off. "Just say hi and everything will be fine."

"Are they like you?"

Hinata giggled even though he didn't understand what Kageyama meant by that. "Well, we're related."

"I figured." Hinata giggled again, climbing stairs now, Kageyama so close behind him that he bumped into Hinata when the latter unlocked a door. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Hinata said, then, with a voice so loud that it left Kageyama's ears ringing for several seconds after, bellowed, "I finished up work!"

A rather high-pitched "Shouyou!" followed right after, and everything became blurs of orange and giggles. Kageyama tried shuffling past without being noticed even though he had no way of knowing where to actually go. "Who's that?" that new voice asked. A pair of bright brown eyes blinked up at Kageyama, an accusing finger pointing at his chest.

"Nacchan, I told you to behave in front of my friends." Hinata pushed the girl's arm down. She stuck her tongue out at him. "This is Kageyama. He's a regular. And my friend."

"Hello." Kageyama nodded at her. His back was pressed against the wall. What was it with Kageyama and girls? Was he afraid of them for some reason? He _did_ look distressed.

Instead of pondering over this, Hinata went for saving him instead. "The weather's bad so he's staying over! We're upstairs!" And with that, Hinata reached for Kageyama's wrist and dragged him up another flight of stairs. He opened the door to his room and Kageyama dashed in as if he were making a run from the zombie apocalypse. "What's up with you?" Hinata laughed and closed the door behind him.

"I told you I'm bad at this." Kageyama took off his gym bag and placed it by his feet, then his coat and a second jacket. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a generic skyline motif.

"You're absolutely atrocious." Hinata shook his head, giggles still threatening to escape his lips. "I've never seen anyone worse, and I talk to hundreds of people every day. I should know."

Kageyama unwound his scarf, folded it into a tight ball and smacked it right in Hinata's face. "Shut up! Not everyone can be an outgoing extrovert!"

Hinata raised his hands in defence. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you!"

Kageyama eyed him with suspicion obvious in the gleam of his eyes, but let it slide. "Do you have tea?"

"Sure! Green tea fine with you?"

"Yes. Put some milk in."

Hinata raised his eyebrows and grinned. "No, you're coming with me and do that yourself."

Kageyama followed Hinata out of the room and into the kitchen next to it without objection. "Is this upstairs basically your apartment?"

"My grandparents used to live here but they retired when I started working at the bakery and moved out. So that I have some space to myself. My sister's usually prowling around, though, when no one's over." Hinata fed the water boiler before starting it. "What about you?"

"I live in a one-room apartment in a complex." Kageyama shrugged. "Many students live there. It's cheap."

"You sound so indifferent about it." Hinata retrieved a green tea blend from a kitchen shelf and put the recommended amount for a litre in a tea can.

"I wouldn't call it home. It's a place to sleep and shower and sometimes learn when I'm not staying at the university's library."

"Is it hard?"

"Why should it be?"

"Well, living on your own, separated from your family--"

"--is normal at our age." Kageyama folded his arms and averted his eyes. "And I prefer being alone to all this ruckus."

Hinata blushed. "But I work here! I can't very well move out."

"You could."

"I have to get up at five in the morning, sometimes even earlier." Hinata's lips formed a pout. "It helps that I just have to stumble down the stairs." The water boiler announced it was ready, and Hinata poured the water into the tea can, steam rising into his face.

"You have a point."

"Don't I?" Hinata grinned. "Could you carry the mugs, please? They're in the second cupboard to your right."

Kageyama turned around and took hold of two mugs. "And the milk?"

"Right, the milk! In the fridge, of course."

"...Of course," Kageyama repeated in a mumble, as if this was not normal. He glanced around the kitchen, looking lost for a second there, then spotted the small fridge in one of the corners and, setting the mugs aside as he opened it, retrieved a carton of milk.

"Let's go back to my room."

"Okay."

Hinata left the kitchen with the tea can in his hands, Kageyama following him close behind, both mugs and the milk carton wrapped in his arms. When they arrived, Hinata set the can on his desk and Kageyama placed the things he had carried next to them. He turned his head to both sides slowly, glancing around the room. He looked out of place and uncomfortable. Hinata tried to catch his gaze without success and asked, "Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Okay."

Hinata laughed. "You say 'okay' an awful lot, you know?"

"Yes." Kageyama tilted his head and looked at Hinata. "I'm bad with words." He did the wriggly-finger thing again. "Talking is hard."

"Ah, I actually meant that you don't have to agree all the time! If you don't want to do something, just object."

Kageyama shrugged. "But I don't care."

Hinata shook his head and sighed. He plopped on his bed and patted the space to his right so Kageyama could sit down there. As he approached the bed, Hinata said, "By the way. Are you scared of girls?"

"No." Kageyama's eyebrows lowered and his nose scrunched up. "How have you arrived at that conclusion?" He sat down, back awfully stiff.

"Oh, because, like, ten days or something ago you made a beeline for the door when Yachi entered. And today you couldn't get away from Natsu fast enough."

Kageyama's eyes flickered to Hinata, then he went back to staring at the wall. "They make me feel awkward."

"You don't even know them! I swear both--"

"No, you don't understand. The room was suddenly so full. Their attention was on me. It makes me feel," Kageyama's fingers began itching, "as if I have to do something to prove I'm worth being in their presence." His gaze dropped. "It's hard to explain. I'm just bad with people. If I can, I avoid conversation."

"Which is a shame!" Hinata leaned into Kageyama's field of vision. He didn't care that he was almost lying in the man's lap. "From what I've gathered so far, you could do with some friends! I don't know why you ended up the way you are--"

"I've always been this way! And get out of my face!" He shoved at Hinata, who fell from the bed.

He jumped right back onto the mattress. "Sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't be mad."

"I am perfectly calm."

"Yeah." Hinata folded his arms. "The so-called calm before the storm."

"Don't provoke me."

Hinata nodded, lips pressed into a thin line, eyes wide with alarm. "So, what about the movie?"

"Let's watch one."

"Great! What kind of movies do you like?"

Kageyama shrugged. "I don't watch movies usually, so I don't know. You can pick."

Hinata sighed. "Please promise me you'll work on your apathetic stance towards about 90 percent of the things I try to talk about."

"Okay."

Hinata face palmed. His nose hurt from slapping his hand against it a little too hard but that was all right. Kageyama was an idiot if he ever saw one, and Hinata was very aware of his own bad grades back at school. "How about some chick flick? Or a horror movie? With gore and bodies? Or do you like Disney? Or an anime movie?"

"You can choose."

Hinata groaned. Well, perhaps a horror movie would be a good idea because this might motivate Kageyama to come out of behind his nonchalance. Hinata jumped off the bed and walked towards his DVD shelf, choosing an especially scary movie that he would get nightmares from, but he couldn't let his determination waver. Kageyama looked bored, Hinata confirmed with a quick glance over his shoulder. Yes, this was a good idea. He took the DVD case, turned on his TV and the PlayStation he had bought and only Natsu ever really used, and inserted the disc. Then he walked back to Kageyama, remote control and controller in his hands. "You ready?"

Kageyama snapped out of his daydream and blinked at Hinata. "Uh, yes?" He looked confused.

Hinata had already started up the console, the DVD getting closer and closer to the main menu, when he remembered. "Ah, we're forgetting the tea!"

"Right. I'm... going to..." Kageyama didn't finish his sentence and headed to the desk. He poured tea into both mugs, although a little less in the one he added milk to. With both mugs in his hands, he walked back to the bed and held out the one without milk towards Hinata.

"Thank you!" Hinata beamed up at Kageyama who blinked and looked more out-of-place than ever.

"Uh. Yes. I'm..." Kageyama cleared his throat and sat down on the bed to Hinata's right. "You're welcome."

"We should also turn off the lights, don'tcha think?"

"Isn't this bad for your eyes?"

"I don't suppose? Because Natsu and I've been watching movies with the lights turned off, like, forever. And it's dark in cinemas." Kageyama made a choked sound, as if he wanted to say something and changed his mind halfway through. Hinata got up, remote and controller abandoned on the bed and mug pressed back into Kageyama's hand, and turned off the lights. "Is it okay?"

"Yes."

"Good!" Hinata jumped back onto his bed and took the mug back from Kageyama. Then he started up the movie and leaned back against the wall into a comfortable position, cushion squashed between himself and the wall.

Hinata's grin didn't waver until after the ten minute mark of the movie had passed, and faded fully when the body count began to rise and the scenes became bloodier and gorier by the second. He inched closer to Kageyama, who had by then settled down against the wall as well. Their by now emptied mugs were perched on Hinata's bedside table.

At first glance, Kageyama seemed as unfazed as ever, but upon closer inspection, Hinata found the other man's hands tremble and his lips quiver ever so slightly. Which would've been more celebratory if he wasn't even more of a mess himself. Hinata actually hopped into the air at every other scary scene, clawed his fingers into his bedsheets, and he didn't think his whimpering sounded especially manly. He shuffled closer to Kageyama.

The warmth of another living, breathing human being comforted Hinata. He didn't know Kageyama well at all, didn't even know a lot about him, but he seemed like a decent enough person as long as he stayed calm. And so far, he hadn't pushed Hinata away, even though the latter was pressed up against to him. No, instead his arm shook a little, but Hinata couldn't tell if it was from fright or hesitation. Perhaps a mixture of both. Then the arm slowly wrapped around Hinata's shoulders and pressed him closer. The gesture felt reassuring, even if Kageyama's hand was still trembling and his breath hitched every now and then.

So when the credits finally rolled to some beyond creepy cracking violins, Hinata couldn't say if this came as a blessing or a curse. Because there was no reason to inhabit Kageyama's personal space bubble any longer, and there was no reason for Kageyama to have his arm wrapped around Hinata's shoulder anymore, and there was no reason for them to feed off each other's securing warmth. And neither of them wanted to acknowledge this, because the credit roll was over and the DVD had returned to its main menu, and they were still sitting like this.

"What do you think of the movie?" Hinata asked, voice a faint whisper against the scream echoing through his TV's speakers. Ah, the main menu was so much fun. He kept staring at it, not daring to do so much as risk a glance at Kageyama.

"It was gory." Kageyama shrugged against Hinata. It felt funny, and he suppressed a giggle. "The ending was stupid. And I didn't like the main character. He was obnoxious."

Now Hinata did giggle. "I agree wholeheartedly. At least he doesn't survive."

"Then why do you even own this travesty?"

Hinata snorted. And here he had thought of Kageyama's vocabulary to be a little more limited. Perhaps because he was so quiet. "One of Natsu's friends gave it to her, and I watched it with her, and somehow it ended up collecting dust in my room."

"So you knew how bad this was going to be?" The hand on Hinata's shoulder tensed.

"It's been a while since I first watched this. Like," Hinata shrugged, "four years I guess? I had forgotten just how horrendous this movie is. But," he shook a little, "I still get scared."

"I noticed."

Hinata bowed his head to hide his blush. He didn't know if the TV screen's illumination was enough, but he was better safe than sorry. "And I noticed that you got the goosebumps, too." His lips drew into a smirk.

"So what?" Kageyama exhaled loudly through his nose. "When you live alone, you react more violently to a random face appearing in the mirror behind you, for instance! Or how would you like it if you lived on the fourth floor and someone knocked on your window?"

"Don't say it like this is a thing that actually happens!"

The colour of Kageyama's face deepened. "Well, according to this movie, it could!"

"Don't scare me!" Hinata made himself smaller.

Kageyama's head snapped around to him. "I thought the movie was bullshit!"

"It was! But it's still scary! What if there's some truth to it after all?"

Kageyama pressed his lips together and cocked his head a little to his left. "You might be right."

"See! So even if--" A knock on the door made them both jump. Kageyama's arm snaked back from around Hinata's shoulders and he folded it with his other one in front of his chest. "Come in!"

"You dumbass," Kageyama hissed. "What if this is the killer?"

"Oh shit--"

Natsu came in, blinking at the scene. One of her arms was slung around a plush lion. So she still slept with it. Hinata's lips pulled upwards into a smirk. This would serve as wonderful blackmail material. "Can you perhaps not yell at each other? I'm about to go to bed, you know."

"Yes, sorry," Hinata said, leaning forward as to not be blocked from view by Kageyama. "Sleep well."

"You, too." Natsu yawned. "Just keep it down, boys..." With that, she left.

"Perhaps we should get ready for bed, too." Hinata leaned away from Kageyama to look into his face.

Kageyama inclined his head towards Hinata. "I don't have anything to sleep in."

Hinata frowned. "I don't think you'll fit into anything from me."

"Yeah." Kageyama huffed. "You're tiny."

Hinata's eye twitched. "Don't rub it in, you meanie giant!"

"'Meanie giant'?" Kageyama raised a single eyebrow. His smirk was self-satisfied and cocky. "What are you, five?"

"It's not like your insults are any better."

Kageyama raised his shoulders. He could be intimidating if he wanted to. "At least mine contain profanity, you dumbass."

"Well, I don't need to add profanity to my insults to burn you."

Kageyama snorted. "Pfft. Your insults are ineffective."

"Then why are we arguing about this?"

Kageyama unfolded his arms to throw them up in the air. A scream issued from the TV just then. "You started it by saying my insults were shit!"

"No, you started by calling me 'tiny'!"

"Well, excuse me, princess," Kageyama leaned forward, hovering over a Hinata that pressed himself back into his mattress, "how was I supposed to know you get offended so easily?"

Just at that moment the door flew open again and a set of angry footsteps made their way towards the bed. "I asked you to keep it down!" Natsu said, and had the audacity to smack Kageyama across the head with her lion. "And about your positioning," she added, eyes ablaze, the outlines of her body illuminated by the flickering light from the TV screen, "if this turns from screaming at each other into angry and loud sex, I'll make sure that this," she pointed with her thumb back to the TV, "turns out to be an accurate prediction of your immediate future." She hit Hinata with her lion, too, then marched out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"I take back what I said before," Kageyama said. Hinata blinked up at him. A mad blush was painting his cheeks in. "Your sister gives me the creeps."

"I was," Hinata tried to keep from giggling and didn't make it, "impressed when she assaulted you with the lion."

Kageyama's eyes glazed over. "Thinking about trying it as well?"

"No." Hinata laughed. "I value my life too much."

"The wisest words of wisdom I've heard from you so far."

"You do realise that 'wisest' and 'wisdom' mean the same thing, right? You just said the same thing twice--"

"Shut up, dumbass!"

"Psst," Hinata pushed a finger against his own lips, "Natsu said to keep it down." Kageyama made a sound between a groan and a growl. He sat up straight and Hinata followed his example. "So, back to what we were talking about before..." Kageyama blinked at him. "You know, sleeping."

"I still don't have anything to sleep in."

Hinata sighed. "We could look through my stuff. Perhaps there's something that fits you."

"You sound so sure and not vague at all." Hinata looked at Kageyama. His face was impassive. He looked tired perhaps. But had this man, who possessed no sense of humour at all, just used sarcasm? Hinata snorted. "What?" Oh no, now he sounded angry.

"Sorry, I was just thrown off by your use of humour." Hinata went for a grin. "But you're right, I probably don't have anything. Although looking won't hurt."

"Okay." Hinata jumped off his bed and flicked the lights on. "Are you stupid? My eyes burn because of your tactless--"

"Sorry!" He dashed back to the remote and the controller on his bedside table and turned off the PlayStation, then the TV, too. He went to his wardrobe and beckoned Kageyama to join him. Hinata opened one of the doors and scanned the stacks of clothes.

"What is this?" Kageyama asked, pointing at a nondescript blue t-shirt.

Hinata pulled the shirt out. It was a big thing with no form to it. "Well spotted."

He held it out to Kageyama who took it with a mumbled "Thanks". He cast it to the bed and pulled the t-shirt he was currently wearing off. Hinata didn't mean to stare but he still caught himself doing nothing but. Kageyama wasn't ripped or especially beefy but the muscles gained from his workout still toned his body. He cast a nervous glance towards Hinata but the latter couldn't tell if Kageyama didn't want him to look or if he wanted him to ogle all he wanted if he gained some sort of approval. So Hinata averted his gaze, eyes darting to his shelf as he whistled a random tune. Way to cast the suspicion off him. "It fits," Kageyama said then, and Hinata's head snapped back to look at him. The new t-shirt stretched tightly around Kageyama's shoulders and was too loose around his lower torso, but at least it covered him.

"Yep!" Hinata beamed.

Kageyama scowled. "Why are you always so excited about every little thing?"

Hinata raised an eyebrow, grinning even broader. "Why are you always so grumpy?" Kageyama's arms shook a little, his hands balled to fists, but he didn't say anything. Well, that just proved Hinata's point. "Do you have pants to sleep in?"

"I'm just gonna sleep in my boxers, if this is all right with you. I'd rather not wear my sweatpants because... they are sweaty..." He wrapped his arms around himself in a one person hug and looked down. "I feel so gross."

Hinata cocked his head to the side. "But you aren't."

Kageyama didn't look up. "I want to take a shower and wear my own clothes."

Hinata frowned. "Why can't you take a shower here?"

"Because I don't have anything to change into," Kageyama looked him straight in the eye, "dumbass!"

"Right. I forgot. I'm sorry this is such a rocky start."

"Start of what?" Kageyama's eyes narrowed.

Hinata raised his eyebrows because to him at least it was obvious. "Friendship?"

"I don't," Kageyama began and then made an abrupt choking sound. "Why are you so intent on being friends with me?"

Hinata shrugged. "I don't know. You seem like you could do with a good friend."

"Are you pitying me?"

Hinata decided he didn't like the way Kageyama was stomping towards him. "No, I'm not!" He raised both his hands in defence. "But there's more than to the eye with you. You're not just angry all the time, and humans need socialising even though you want no part of it. And today was fun." Hinata inspected his socks. "At least I thought it was..." They were white and soft. But not as important as Kageyama standing right in front of him right now, so Hinata looked back up and met his impassive gaze. "And I hope you liked it, too, even if the circumstances could have been better because I'd like to be your friend and do more friend things with you, you know. I want to get to know you better because I know you can be nice."

"Wow." Kageyama rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "What a compliment."

"You know, you're not exactly making this easy."

Kageyama's upper lip drew up. He bared his teeth in a snarl and stalked back towards the bed, then turned around and with the most deer-in-the-headlights look Hinata had ever seen, he asked, "We're not sharing your bed, are we?"

"No!" Hinata laughed and pulled a futon out of his wardrobe. "Here you go! I have friends staying over every now and then so," he shrugged, "yeah." He closed the wardrobe with his elbow and headed to Kageyama, holding out the futon in front of him.

"Thanks," Kageyama said, eyes fixed on the futon. Hinata hoped it wasn't a trick of the light and Kageyama _did_ smile the tiniest of smiles then. Because this little observation made his day. "When your friends stay over," Kageyama said, and Hinata snapped back to reality. Kageyama had already rolled out the futon on the ground and made himself comfortable on it.

"Y-Yes?" Hinata jumped onto his bed.

"And you watch movies with them."

"Sometimes we do."

"Do you..." Kageyama trailed off and gulped. Hinata suppressed the urge to prompt him. "Do you sit right next to them on your bed, too?"

Hinata blinked. This was a funny question. "Well, we're usually not as close as we two were."

"Oh."

"And the arm around the shoulders thing has never happened before," Hinata took a deep breath before Kageyama could voice what his disillusioned facial expression was saying already, "but I liked it! I felt safe from the scary things in the movie so please don't feel bad about it!" His face burned.

Kageyama's cheeks turned pink, too. "Okay." His nod was stiff and hid one of the first genuine smiles Kageyama had ever succumbed to in his presence. It made Hinata's heart rate pick up in a way that was not uncomfortable at all.

* * *

Hinata had hoped Kageyama would stay a little longer. But no, he joined Hinata when the latter had to get up at five in the morning, dressed, grabbed two glassfuls of milk and came _this_ close to storming out the back door. Then, he turned around, and with a stiff back and wide-open eyes, said, "Thank you." His bow was equally stiff.

"That's what friends are there for, stupid! Don't worry about it." Hinata was preparing dough for his cookies. When his father entered the kitchen with a yawn, Kageyama disappeared without a trace.

* * *

Thankfully, Kageyama did show his face two days later instead of vanishing from the earth for good. "Kageyama! Good afternoon!" Hinata called as soon as the man shuffled in through the door. He still had to complete another customer's order, handing the elderly woman some of the cookies for free as she paid for her sliced bread.

"Thank you," the lady said, shaking hands reaching out for the paper bags.

"Thank you, too." Hinata smiled. "I wish you a nice day."

The woman smiled as well. "Thank you, lad, the weather is beautiful today." She turned around and almost walked into Kageyama who had crept up to the counter in the meantime. Clutching her bearings, she made for the door.

After she had left, Kageyama took a generous step towards the counter and nodded at Hinata. "Hello."

"Hey." Hinata beamed up at him. The corners of Kageyama's mouth twitched ever so slightly. Well, that was an improvement! "How are you?"

"Fine. You?" His eyes browsed the pastries section.

"Me, too." Hinata reached under the counter. He had come prepared now and always filled a couple of bags with cookies so that he wouldn't have to run back to the kitchen every two minutes. "Here you go."

Kageyama's eyes moved up and his nose crunched at the sight of the bag. "What's that?"

"The cookies you're always coming for!"

"Oh. Thanks."

"What else do you want?" Hinata rested his elbows on the counter and his head on his palms. He was feeling giddy and like giggling.

"Do you have gingerbread?"

Hinata stood up straight. "Yes, but only a little. Christmas is long over. Wait a second here." Kageyama nodded and Hinata moved back into the kitchen. The gingerbread was taken out of the displays as soon as the Christmas season was over because for some reason only a few people would still buy some afterwards. He took two big chunks of the still warm gingerbread, his father giving him their insider look that meant 'special interest people' and always cracked Hinata up. Chuckling, he returned to the counter and the waiting Kageyama who was busy doing nothing. "It looks like this." Hinata held up the gingerbread.

"Are those two pieces?"

"Yes."

"I take both." His cheeks turned a faint pink. "They look and smell good."

Hinata grinned. "Thank you." He wrapped the pieces in paper and stuffed them in a big bag, then added the cookies already offered to Kageyama. "Anything else?"

"No."

"All right. That makes 350 yen." As Kageyama shuffled through his wallet, Hinata took a deep breath. He wanted to ask. He needed to ask. And now was an opportunity. His heart was going well over a hundred beats per minute and his suddenly sweaty palms were balled into tight fists. "By the way, Kageyama."

Kageyama looked up and laid a 1,000 yen bill on the counter. He blinked at Hinata to continue.

"Now that we're, uhm, friends, would you mind giving me your number?" Hinata swallowed. He looked down; he couldn't hold Kageyama's gaze. "For future reference... so we can meet up and do stuff..." Great. Here he was, usually so loud and outgoing but turning into a shrinking violin for no reason. He had asked so many people for their numbers before. He had good friends. There was nothing to be scared about.

He looked up again to the sound of something being placed next to the bill. Hinata looked up and there it was: a note with close-to intelligible writing, a string of numbers written on it. "Don't lose it," Kageyama said. He cheeks were still pink. "And don't give it to anyone else."

"Why would I?" Hinata more giggled than laughed. Ah, accomplishments felt good. He stuffed the note in his pocket and the bill in the cash register, handing back 650 yen to Kageyama. "Thank you."

"Yeah." Kageyama put the change away and took the paper bag.

"I'm gonna text you later today when my shift is over."

"Okay." Kageyama gave a short bow that looked closer to a stiff nod. "Good day."

"Yes, have a nice day!"

Kageyama only hummed in response, then left.

* * *

Tonight, and spanning over the next few days, Hinata found out another thing about Kageyama: He was not only bad at conversation face-to-face, but he sucked at communication via text, too. He needed hours at a time to text back, and when he did, his responses were mostly monosyllabic. And when they weren't, he sometimes used the wrong kanji as if he didn't look when he typed and automatically chose the first suggestion.

Nonetheless, they had managed to agree on a day and time to meet up. As Hinata marched through the snow crunching beneath his boots, he couldn't do much more than hope that Kageyama would show up as well. After last night's heavy snowfall, today was a Sunday with an emphasis on the sun part so that the snow sparkled in the sunlight. Hinata checked his phone close to once a minute but there was never anything on there but the time. He was cutting it close but that would be all right.

Suddenly, there were running footsteps and grunting approaching fast from behind. Hinata stuffed his phone away and had half-turned around when someone passed him with an insane pace considering the snow and ice-encrusted pavement. Blinking at the person for a couple of dumbfounded seconds, Hinata recognised them as Kageyama. What the hell was he doing? "Hey, wait up!" Hinata inhaled as deeply as his lungs allowed, then set off after Kageyama at a mad sprint.

When he had caught up to him, Hinata found himself at the destination where they had wanted to meet up: right in front of the gates to the biggest park in town. He was out of breath and heaved heavily. Kageyama seemed better off for wear, his hands clasping his thighs as his breathing went back to normal. He looked at Hinata through his fringe and spoke into his scarf. "I won."

"What?" Hinata rasped.

He had to work out more, he decided, when Kageyama stood up straight again. He was grinning and his face was flushed and Hinata failed at slowing down his heart rate. "I won the race!"

Hinata inhaled deeply. There was a burn in his chest and a stitch in his side. "We never agreed on racing."

"Does it matter?" The grin faded from Kageyama's face, being replaced by his usual look of mild disinterest. "I still won."

"It's unfair!" Hinata regretted having shouted. It drew more strength from him than expected, making him gasp. The cold air burned in his lungs. "You had a head start," he needed air, "because you knew we were gonna race."

Now Kageyama was scowling. "Stop being such a whiny crybaby and get over it, dammit."

Hinata stuck out his tongue at him. This argument was going nowhere. "Anyway, how are you?"

"I'm fine. You?" Kageyama readjusted his scarf until he looked like a ninja. Hinata bet this was unintentional.

"A little out of breath but otherwise I'm good." He pulled his knit cap down so it covered his ears again. It must have come a little loose when he had dashed after Kageyama. Stupid man... Kageyama nodded in return. And that was that. Their conversation had already hit a dead end about one minute in. Hinata's eyes darted around in search of something to talk about. "The weather's good today." Great. The weather. How old was he again?

"Yes."

And Kageyama was as talkative as ever. How was he supposed to suffer through this, and when exactly had their meeting up turned from exciting to exasperating in the first place? "So, do you have anything in mind?"

"What do you mean?"

Hinata turned his sigh into a welcome inhale of air. "What do you want to do with me?"

"I haven't planned that far ahead."

"Me neither."

Kageyama nodded. "Okay." Didn't he see the problem? A look up to him confirmed that he was indeed looking around.

"We can go for a stroll in the park, for instance," Hinata said and forced a smile.

"Okay."

Hinata entered first, followed by Kageyama. He jogged up to Hinata's left and matched his pace to Hinata's. There were many children and their parents or older siblings playing, most of them sleighing down the few hills the park offered. The pond wasn't frozen over so no one tried their luck ice skating, but some children played with small pieces of floating ice they had fished out of it.

"Hey, I know what we could do!" Hinata yelled over the noise around them.

Kageyama turned his head towards him. "And what?"

"Building snowmen!"

Kageyama snorted. "What are you, six?"

"I think you vastly underestimate how much fun this is!" Hinata ran over to an unoccupied piece of meadow coated in snow. "C'mon!" Kageyama followed him with big strides. His face said everything already: His scrunched up nose and his slightly narrowed eyes spoke of how not convinced of this idea he was. Hinata, on the other hand, was already busy balling up snow and rolling it around the ground. "Don't just stand there, Kageyama!" He made sure to smile at him.

Something in Kageyama's expression changed at that and he seemed much more alert. His lips quivered. "Y-Yes!" He cast an unsure look towards Hinata, crouched down and gathered snow in his hands. Kageyama did as Hinata had done, and together they formed two big balls of snow in what felt like no time.

He heaved his own ball on top of Hinata's bigger one. "Now we only need the head." Hinata grinned. He started with another snowball at the same time as Kageyama did. Blinking, Hinata said, "We only need one, you know."

"Oh. Well, I started first so let's use mine."

"Without me you would've put two heads on there."

"I'm not _that_ stupid!"

Hinata whistled, then grinned. "So you admit to being stupid."

Kageyama bared his teeth in a snarl and his face flushed with anger. He made use of the snowball he was already holding and threw it at Hinata, aiming for his chest.

The snow hit him with a satisfying crunch. "What was that for?" Hinata pouted but instead of setting a good example on how to behave like the adult in this situation, he chucked his own snowball, already a little bigger thanks to him rolling it around in the snow, in Kageyama's direction. And missed.

Kageyama snorted. "You can't even aim."

"Ah, yeah?" Hinata threw a second snowball at Kageyama and hit him on the shoulder. "Hah! I knew my aim wasn't that bad. The ball before was just a little heavy."

"Have you seen your arms?" Kageyama raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Your muscles are all withered away." His next snowball hit just as hard as the last one and Hinata hid behind the half-finished snowman. "No strength in them."

Hinata gathered up snow to build a little wall he could hide behind. He didn't make it far because Kageyama kept playing in an offensive way and threw snowball after snowball at him. Two hit him on the head and one in his face. "This hurts, stupid Kageyama!"

"I'm not stupid!" Another ball flew at Hinata and he rolled to the side in the last possible moment.

"You are too!" Hinata started preparing a small arsenal of snowballs and endured the few but heavy hits Kageyama scored. "And it does hurt!"

"You're just a weak crybaby!"

"At least I'm not stupid!" A snowball flew right over his head.

"You are a fucking dumbass, of course you're stupid!"

Hinata had enough snowballs now he reckoned, so he started throwing them in a steady rhythm as soon as he spotted Kageyama.

"What the fuck?" he yelled when ball after ball flew at him. He threw his arms up to guard his face and staggered backwards.

When Hinata didn't have anything to throw anymore, he took Kageyama's startled expression in and grinned. This had been so worth the pain. And it got even better: A woman in her early thirties, Hinata estimated, approached Kageyama and said, "Please watch your language, young man. There are children all around! What are they supposed to think?" Kageyama's mouth opened and closed, and his impression of a dumbfounded fish was perfect indeed. Hinata couldn't contain his rising laughter.

He heard the crunching of the snow before he opened his eyes. Then he himself was pushed backwards by the shoulders and, upon opening his eyes, Hinata found an already advanced-angry Kageyama hovering above him. "Are you making fun of me?" he hissed through grit teeth. Hinata felt the colour draining out of his face whereas Kageyama was as flushed as ever. Hinata's heart was beating insanely fast. Kageyama lowered his face a couple of inches. He hissed in a measured whisper. "Well, are you?"

"No!" Hinata shoved at Kageyama's shoulders. "I'm not! And let go of me! You're scaring the shit out of me right now!" Kageyama scrunched up his nose but got up and even helped Hinata to his feet. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Hinata asked.

"I told you. I'm not good with people." Kageyama folded his arms and stepped away from Hinata. "Sorry. I fu-- screwed this up, too, huh?"

Hinata patted his own back to get rid of the snow sticking to his clothes. "No, you didn't. I just don't understand why you're always overreacting. And then you suddenly go back to being all calm and collected. I don't get it. It's like someone flicks a switch."

Kageyama laughed. It was a hollow, mirthless sound. "Funny because that's exactly what it feels like for me, too."

Hinata approached him slowly. He didn't want to end up scaring him away. "There has to be a reason for this."

"There is, but I don't want to tell you."

Hinata frowned although he knew it wasn't his place to ask. Either Kageyama told him on his own or he didn't. "Okay, that's something at least..." He had come up next to Kageyama now and looked up to him. His expression was tense and there were thin lines from his furrowing his brows. "You know, I'm cold all over."

Kageyama rolled his eyes at Hinata. "Cry me a river."

"Well, aren't you a sunshine?" Kageyama's eye twitched at that. "Let's go somewhere to warm up."

"Okay." Kageyama's head snapped in a direction away from Hinata. "How about my place?"

"Ohhh...!" Hinata's voice grew even more high-pitched than it already was. "This sounds awesome!"

"It's nothing special," Kageyama said into his scarf and started backtracking through the park.

Hinata walked next to him. "It is! I've never been to your apartment." He chuckled. "You at least don't have your little sister barge in and threaten me."

"No."

"Oh! I didn't know you had a sister."

"I don't. I'm an only child."

"Ah, okay." Hinata stuffed his gloved hands into his coat pockets. He was shivering and his hands felt like two oversize ice cubes. When had this happened, exactly? He didn't even feel the present he had brought along on his inside pocket although he was sure it was still there. "Do you have hot chocolate or something?"

"Yes. And tea."

"Ah," Hinata sighed, "perfect." Just what he needed. "We could watch a movie again." They left the park and took a sharp right.

"I don't have movies."

"We can stream one off the internet!"

"Okay."

In his excitement Hinata had forgotten to ask so he backtracked. "Wait, what do you mean you don't have movies?"

Kageyama shrugged. "Just that. I don't have any. I usually don't watch movies."

Hinata raised an eyebrow. His knit cap was coming loose so he pulled it down again. "What's your age again?"

"23," Kageyama growled. His voice went back to normal at once. "Do you want to take the normal route or the shortcut?"

"Hmm." They were stopping at a red light at an intersection. The shortcut sure sounded intriguing. He hoped there wasn't a catch. "The shortcut."

"Okay." Kageyama grinned. "I hope you can run." True to his word, as soon as the light turned green, he accelerated from long strides into a full-out run. This at least gave Hinata the chance to stay close behind him. People walking in the opposite direction were parting for them, although it was often accompanied by questioning their sanity out loud. Kageyama obviously cared less about his public image than Hinata did because the former's pace didn't falter in the least whereas Hinata did slow down a little and even apologised to the first few people until he found he wouldn't be able to keep up with Kageyama this way. Kageyama who was scaling a two metre high wall.

"Please tell me you're joking!"

Kageyama, now sitting perched on top of the wall, turned to look at Hinata. "I didn't say anything." He sounded confused. What an idiot.

Hinata was grateful that if there was one thing he had always excelled at when it came to sports it was jumping. He knew he wouldn't quite make the leap but he didn't want to be made fun of by Kageyama so he pushed himself off the ground and jumped, raising his arms and reaching for the top of the wall with one. Kageyama surprised him by grabbing one of his arms and pulling him, helping Hinata up until he was sitting on the wall. "This is insane."

"We're not quite there yet."

"Promise me we don't have to pull off any more crazy ninja mumbo jumbo."

Kageyama shook his head. Hinata liked how his hair flew with the movement. "This is parkour. I'm not that good at it, actually." He jumped down the other side of the wall.

Hinata followed. His joints didn't like the impact, he was sure. "Do we have to climb more walls?"

"No." Kageyama nodded towards what lay beyond. Tree after tree obscured the sky above and the ground below. "Only hope we don't get lost in the woods."

"You know your way around here. You do," Hinata said through grit teeth. He regretted his decision of having picked the shortcut. They would starve here or freeze to death.

"Most times I find my way around just fine." Kageyama walked into the woods and Hinata followed for lack of having a foolproof Plan B. He stayed as close as possible to Kageyama because the trees did an excellent job blocking out the sun and coating the world in darkness.

The hike had taken way too long Hinata decided when they emerged through two trees that gave no indication that the woods would end past them. "When are we there?" he asked in a feeble voice.

"Soon." Kageyama took another sharp right and walked next to the edge of the forest, Hinata catching up to his left side. When they reached a gate, Kageyama went back into the woods, Hinata right behind him, turned right, did a U-turn around the fifth tree and they emerged at the other side of the gate.

"What the hell," Hinata said. He didn't believe this and threw his hands up in the air. "This is either terrible security or a redundant gate. This is what I pay taxes for."

Kageyama shrugged. "It's been this way for years. Either nobody notices, nobody cares or this is intentional." He shrugged again. "I figured I could always climb the gate if they fixed it." He ran a gloved finger over the metal threads.

Hinata swallowed his retort. He didn't get Kageyama's way of detached, apathetic thinking so questioning it was a moot point. "Are we," he said as a way of detaching himself from his increasing irritation, "at your place soon?"

"Yes." Kageyama pulled his hand back and started walking with a respectable pace.

Hinata followed him, first along the gate, then through a dirt track that footsteps had already cleared of the snow. It was slippery and wet and a horrible choice to walk through today. "Is this the way you took earlier, too? To the park."

"Yes. But it's hard to get over the wall by the woods from this side. I barely manage the run-up."

Hinata frowned. "Is it much faster than the normal route?"

"I save about half an hour this way. I would have to walk around the woods and they drag in both directions."

"I see." Hinata nodded to himself.

They had arrived in the backyard of some high apartment block buildings. Kageyama walked around the one they were closest to and fumbled for his elusive keys in his pocket. He had to stop walking to grasp them. "We're here." He pushed open the apparently always open front door and, Hinata following him, climbed a flight of stairs. He unlocked the left one of the two doors on the second floor and led himself in.

The first things Hinata noticed when he pulled his shoes off in favour of a pair of a little too big slippers were the white walls. There wasn't a single picture anywhere. Hinata hung his coat on the coat rack and walked on. There weren't vases and plants, the furniture was as plain as the bedsheets Hinata glimpsed on his way to Kageyama, and he had fears about the bathroom he hadn't even seen yet. As soon as he caught up to Kageyama in a nondescript kitchen that could've come straight out of a catalogue he asked, "How long have you been living here?"

Kageyama closed the fridge, holding a milk carton in his right hand. "For two and a half years. I moved here when I started university."

Hinata looked at him. Just looked. Kageyama didn't see the problem, did he? "I'm asking because it looks so... uninhabited. Like you just moved here. There's no personal items here whatsoever."

Kageyama shrugged. He really didn't see it. "I come here to eat, shower and sleep." He ticked the points off with his fingers. "I don't want to waste time decorating my apartment."

"Neither do I, but I want to feel comfortable where I spend a good amount of my time off."

"I'm good the way it is." Hinata heaved a ragged sigh. "Do you still want hot chocolate?"

"Please!" Hinata sat down at the small kitchen table and watched Kageyama pour generous amounts of chocolate powder in two mugs, then add milk and stir. He put both mugs in his microwave and nuked the drinks. During the whole procedure, Kageyama had his back turned to Hinata. The latter took the chance to admire Kageyama's build up from the muscles in his neck, now rid of the scarf, his long-sleeved t-shirt not hiding any of that toning he had earned by working out, down to the curve of his butt. Yes, Hinata mused, he liked the fact that Kageyama seemed to prefer tight-fitting clothes over loose ones.

The microwave rang in a shrill chime and Kageyama jumped a little. Hinata snorted, and Kageyama turned to give him the finger. Then he opened the microwave and took both mugs out. He sat one on the table right in front of Hinata's nose and sat down across from him, holding his steaming mug up to his face. "Say," he said, "have you been staring at me just now?"

Whoops. "No," Hinata laughed, "why would I?" He picked up his mug and blew at the steam.

"Do you know that feeling you get between your shoulder blades when you think someone is looking at you?" Kageyama looked off to the side. He had a nice profile.

"Yeah. It prickles. Real uncomfortable." Hinata blew again. "I always have the urge turn around when that happens."

"Me, too."

Hinata hid his wistful smile behind his mug. He was grateful Kageyama hadn't turned around and caught him staring.

They shared a comfortable silence that was only filled by more or less successful cover-ups of slurping. When both had set their mugs down, Kageyama surprised Hinata by being the first to speak up. "Now what?"

Hinata shrugged. "I don't know. Let's browse the internet, watch something on it."

"Okay." Kageyama stood up, chair creaking as it slid across the tiled floor. "Come on." He marched into the room across from the kitchen, Hinata at his heels, sat down on the couch with his laptop, and opened it to turn it on.

Hinata was already lowering himself onto the couch when he remembered. "Ah, I forgot!" he said and dashed back to his coat to retrieve the cookies. He _would_ end up forgetting if he didn't do this now. Kageyama was typing in his password, Hinata supposed, when he returned, one sole finger hitting the keys, eyes fixed on the keyboard. It was amazing that he even knew how to set a password if this was his computer fluency. After he had hit enter, Hinata said, "Kageyama-kun?" He sat down next to him.

Kageyama looked over to him. "What?"

Hinata held up the bag and grinned. "See what I've brought you!"

Kageyama blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. "What is this?"

"Your favourite cookies, duh!" Hinata opened the bag and reached into it to pull one of the cookies out. He shoved it right under Kageyama's nose.

Nose twitching, Kageyama mumbled a weak, "Thanks." The corners of his mouth were pulling upwards ever so slightly and Hinata broke into a full-out, toothy grin at the sight. His hand moved up to take the cookie from Hinata and move it to his mouth.

Hinata leaned backwards a little. "I'm putting the rest on the table, 'kay?"

"Yesh." Great. Kageyama didn't even swallow before speaking.

Hinata shifted his gaze to the table sitting in front of the couch and, rolling the bag up again first, placed it on the tabletop. He only leaned back again when he was certain Kageyama had finished the cookie. "Is it all right if I take off the slippers and put my feet on here?"

Kageyama shrugged. "I don't mind."

Hinata drew his knees up to his body, then looked over to Kageyama and to his computer. "What do you wanna watch?"

"I don't know." Kageyama turned his head and frowned at Hinata. "You decide."

"Give it here," Hinata said, finger indicating the laptop. Kageyama handed it over just like that. His background image was a generic ad by the computer's manufacturer and Hinata had to suppress his laughter. He opened the internet browser and loaded up the one streaming service he had an account for. "Horror wasn't the best idea. Do you agree?"

"Yes. It was hard falling asleep after."

Hinata winced. He didn't want anyone to have a bad experience sleeping over at his place, or spending time with him in the first place. "So how about something with less action and more comedy? Or romance?" He logged onto his account.

"Yes, okay."

Hinata looked at Kageyama. "Which one is it?"

"I don't care. You can pick." He blinked impassively back at Hinata.

One of Hinata's eyes twitched in irritation. He shifted his attention back to the computer and went into his favourites list. "You know, you're starting to drive me crazy." He knew he was pouting but couldn't care less. Kageyama made a sound deep in his throat, an animalistic growl that sounded threatening and intimidating. Hinata gulped. But he wasn't about to take back what he'd said. Kageyama _was_ irritating and he had to know. How else was he supposed to work on himself? Hinata picked a Ghibli movie at random and hoped that this, as neither comedy nor romance, would be something that would calm Kageyama down and remind him how great working on his apartment and being nice to other people could be. "I picked something." He started playback and entered full-screen mode for the video, then cranked up the speakers. Setting the laptop on the table in front of them at an angle that let hopefully both of them see well, Hinata leaned back into the couch and let his mind be taken off irritating meanie giant Kageyama.

Kageyama seemed to have a subconscious thing with wrapping one arm around another person's shoulders as it didn't even take him twenty minutes into the movie to pull Hinata closer to his side. Hinata leaned closer to Kageyama until he was half-resting on him, Kageyama's arm following him to drape over him. It was funny, somehow, their rather intimate half-cuddling that ensured as soon as they were preoccupied with something else. Because Hinata saw the next argument coming from a mile away already, but he was happy now. Arguing with Kageyama was stupid in a fun way and perhaps he liked even that.

...Who was he kidding?

* * *

The sun set fast and early in winter. That was the first thing Hinata noticed when the movie had finished playing and he blinked over at Kageyama. At some point he had pulled up his slipper-less legs onto the couch as well and both his arms were clinging onto Hinata. "Well," Hinata said, "did you like it?"

Kageyama made a humming sound deep in his throat. His arms loosened somewhat but didn't let go. Hinata didn't object. "Yes. It was nice." He turned his head but, seeing as Hinata couldn't make out more than a too-close blur, Kageyama wouldn't be able to see anything more either. "Alth-- Why are you so close?"

Hinata blushed hard. His cheeks burned and his throat went dry. "I-I don't know." He shrugged and his shoulder hit Kageyama in the chest. Oh no. "It just happened. Is it... is it a problem?"

"No. I was just wondering." Kageyama squinted at his screen. "I only remember you sitting at least half a metre from me and now you're suddenly trying to occupy my space."

"Hey! You started it by pulling me closer!"

"Did I?" Kageyama's whole face scrunched up in confusion. He turned his head to look at Hinata. "I didn't notice."

"It's fine." Hinata half-shrugged this time, not wanting to hurt Kageyama by accident. "I don't have a problem with, ah, physical affection."

Kageyama cocked his head to one side. "This sounds," he wet his lips and his gaze shifted to a point somewhere behind Hinata, "romantic somehow." Hinata grinned. "I don't like it." His grin faded just as fast as it had come.

"Why not?" Hinata gingerly wrapped an arm around Kageyama's torso. "It's fun!"

"Well, isn't everything 'fun' to you?" Hinata couldn't see it but he was sure Kageyama was raising an eyebrow. "Work? Fun. Horror movies? Fun. Doing kid stuff like building snowmen? Fun. Choking me in your death embrace? Fun."

Hinata snorted at the last one. "C'mon, you're exaggerating and you know it."

"A little. Perhaps." Kageyama's eyes struggled to focus on Hinata again. "Does it matter?"

Hinata grinned. "A little. Perhaps."

"Don't repeat my words back at me!" Kageyama's grip on him loosened, then tightened almost to the point of painful. His eyes glazed over. It was eerie watching him only by the faint glow from the laptop's screen.

"Wow, sorry!" Hinata let go of Kageyama and raised his hands, careful not to elbow the other man. "I never mean to offend you."

"You're doing an awful job then." His arms slackened and Hinata took a deep breath to commemorate the occasion.

"Okay, sorry, but it's hard not to offend you. You're easy to piss off." Hinata gulped at Kageyama's hostile expression. "I never know which button I pushed whenever you're flipping out. It's like I'm walking in a mine field and sometimes I just can't help but to step on one because I don't know how to avoid them." Kageyama opened his mouth, his face free again of angry wrinkles, but Hinata spoke before he got the chance. "This is just some food for thought for you." He nodded at the windows. "It's already dark out and I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'd like to go home if you don't mind." Hinata smiled up at Kageyama even though it would be hard to make out.

"Okay." Kageyama sighed and he let go of Hinata. He didn't look pleased in the slightest, but he never did anyway, did he?

Hinata made his way back to the coat rack, slipped out of his slippers and pulled on his clothes for outside. Kageyama surprised him by getting dressed as well. It made Hinata's heart flutter. "I can find the way home fine by myself."

"Aren't you scared walking all this way by yourself?"

Hinata turned to look Kageyama in the eyes. "No. Why would I?"

"It's dark. You're small. Average muscle development. Easy prey for evil people."

"Rub it in, why don't you?" Despite his words, Hinata was moved. But also belittled. He pouted a little. "I can take care of myself." Kageyama looked angry for some reason but he didn't voice his apparent dismay. Instead he was as silent as a grave and, only half-dressed with his boots and scarf, took his key from by the wall and led Hinata outside. "Are you pissed?" Hinata dared ask.

"No." Kageyama's voice was strained.

Hinata rolled his eyes. "You can talk to me about it, you know. It won't hurt."

"I don't want to. I'm not angry at _you_ anyway so just forget about it."

Hinata sighed but accepted this. At least he hadn't done anything to tick off Kageyama any more than he seemingly already was. When they reached the front door and exited, Hinata said, "Well, I hope you have a nice evening." He shrugged. "And week."

"Thanks. You, too." The cold air hit Hinata as if he had run into an ice wall. He shivered and blew in his hands. How the hell was Kageyama not freezing? "Hinata."

"Hm?" He looked up at Kageyama who was unwinding his scarf.

He held it out for Hinata to grasp. "Take it."

Hinata's eyebrows shot up. Wow. He hadn't expected this in the least and his heart hammered painfully against his chest. "I couldn't!"

"I don't need it right now. I'll come by the bakery tomorrow and you can give it back."

"But you need it to come to the bakery in the first place, stupid!"

"I have a spare muffler. It's..." Kageyama's eyes darted to the side, "ugly so I don't wear it often."

Hinata wrapped the scarf around his neck and lower half of his burning face. It was warm already from Kageyama's body heat, and it had his smell all over it. Pulling down the rim of the scarf that was covering his mouth, Hinata said, "Thank you. It's really warm."

Kageyama shook his head. "It..." His voice became so quiet it barely could count as a whisper. "You're welcome."

Hinata grinned. So he had made Kageyama warm up a little, which did him good. Collecting himself, Hinata took a deep breath and hoped he wasn't stepping on one of those mines. "Can I hug you goodbye?"

Kageyama remained quiet for so long that Hinata feared he had overheard his response. Then he said, "Make it fast. I don't--" Hinata was already squeezing him and Kageyama made a sound that sounded close to a choke. But he managed to wrap his arms around Hinata, although he kept the gesture short and let go almost immediately. Hinata stepped back to let Kageyama have back his breathing room; he didn't want to make this good thing turn into a bad one. "I don't like..." He looked down to the ground, then back up at Hinata. "I mean I liked this but I'm not a fan of public displays of affection."

"That's okay." Hinata was still grinning. His face started to hurt but he couldn't care less. "We can just move it to somewhere else."

Hinata wasn't sure due to the bad lighting but he thought he saw Kageyama swallow. "Go home already," he said. His voice didn't carry the angry edge it usually did, though.

Laughing, Hinata replied, "Yes." He waved at Kageyama and turned.

"And please text me when you're home."

Hinata stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face Kageyama. The latter was already opening the front door to the apartment complex and vanishing inside when Hinata called, "Will do!" His grin didn't fade the entire hike home.

* * *

After a shower Hinata welcomed a lot, he went into his room to watch some budget soap opera on TV, instant ramen warming him up further and filling his belly. Something flashed next to the TV screen and Hinata walked over to retrieve his phone. "Huh," he said out loud as he undid the screen lock. A new message from Kageyama was waiting for him, asking him if he'd made it home safely. Smiling, Hinata replied. He had forgotten about texting him.

Kageyama was finally coming out of his shell, the stupid counterfeit tortoise.

* * *

"You know," Hinata said, lips pulling upwards, as he reached over the counter to hand Kageyama his usual round of pastries and, of course, his favourite cookies, "I think I need to work out more." He was trying hard to keep from laughing at Kageyama's muffler. It _was_ ugly all right: A horrible combination of baby blue and neon pink, green and orange threatened to permanently blind anyone who dared lay eyes on it.

Kageyama snorted. "So you finally noticed, too, huh?"

Hinata tried to scowl although he feared his amusement at Kageyama's muffler was taking the edge from his expression. "I used to ride my bike to school and back everyday. A 30 minute hike up the mountain every single morning, no matter the weather. And P.E. was always one of my better subjects so," he shrugged, "it's a shame I dropped sports I think."

"You're right for once."

Hinata shook his head. "Giving credit where it's due, are we?"

"Always."

Hinata shook his head. "Wait a sec, will you?" Kageyama nodded and Hinata called back, "Mum, can you attend the counter for a minute? I need to fetch something from my room!"

A petite woman with hair darker than Hinata's entered the main bakery as Hinata dashed through the kitchen up to his room and back with Kageyama's scarf in his hands. His mum was trying her hardest to talk to a frightened looking Kageyama. "I'm back," Hinata announced and his mother passed him as he had hoped.

"A quiet young man, he is," she whispered in passing and Hinata frowned at Kageyama.

"Here you go." He handed Kageyama the scarf.

"Thanks," Kageyama muttered and wrapped it over the muffler. Well, that was also a way to transport everything home and hide the ugly thing, too.

"So anyway," Hinata said, "I was thinking about dropping by the gym. It'd be awesome if I could go with you." He went for a smile and hoped that at least this would persuade Kageyama to take him with him the next time he went.

Kageyama blinked. His face scrunched up and he looked more like a lost child than a confused adult. "How is this supposed to work? You're working when I'm at the gym."

"I already talked to my mum and she would be fine with doing the afternoon shift instead of the noon one. Which is the one I would do then instead." His smile turned more artificial by the second but he didn't care.

"But," Kageyama said and he quickly looked around himself, "who's gonna give me the cookies then?"

Hinata laughed. "My mum, stupid!" Giggling, he added, "You make it sound as if I'm dealing you drugs."

"I told you, I need those cookies for my sanity."

"My mum will be here. You can still get all the cookies you like." Kageyama still looked neither convinced nor pleased. "All right, after the gym you can walk home with me and I can give you some cookies. Does that sound okay?"

"Better than the alternative."

Wow. What had happened between Kageyama and Hinata's mother? Probably the same thing that had happened between Kageyama and Yachi: Nothing of note but Kageyama was still scared shitless. Hinata blinked at him. He didn't _look_ shy. "Then it's settled?"

Kageyama didn't look happy. "Ugh." He heaved a ragged sigh. "Okay."

"Yes!" Hinata jumped in the air. His words tumbled out fast in his excitement. "Do you work out every day?"

"If I have the time and feel up to it, yes."

"So you could theoretically take me as soon as tomorrow?"

Kageyama's eye twitched. "You are spontaneous."

Hinata shrugged, grinning. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Kageyama kept frowning. "So what about tomorrow?"

"The day after tomorrow would be better."

He didn't elaborate and Hinata didn't want to push his luck. "All right. Where and when exactly do you want to meet up?"

"Can you come to the university campus?"

"Sure." Hinata nodded. He was bubbling with excitement and shaking all over. "You just have to tell me where exactly to show up."

"There's a bus stop not too far from the main entrance." Hinata blinked. He had never been on campus before so he didn't know what it looked like. "Big flashy building right there. All glass. Pretty high and long. You can't miss it."

"I think I'll be able to find it."

"Yes. Be there at," Kageyama hummed to himself while thinking, "three in the afternoon. I'll come pick you up."

"You drive?" This was new.

"No." Oh. "I meant walking."

"Ah, okay. It just sounded like that, you know, picking someone up..." Hinata chuckled, cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"We'll walk."

"Yes, yes," Hinata threw his hands up, "I got it."

"Good." Kageyama reached for the paper bags he had long since put back on the counter. "I'll see you in two days."

Hinata pouted, then went back to smiling. He was bummed that Kageyama wouldn't be here tomorrow but at least he'd agreed to spend a good amount of time with him the day after _and_ also walk him home afterwards! "Yeah."

"Don't forget to bring gym clothes."

"Will do! I mean," Hinata straightened his back, "won't do!" Kageyama gave him a last confused look before he turned to the exit. "Have a nice afternoon and a nice day tomorrow!"

"You, too."

* * *

Hinata had approached the campus from the wrong side and walked around it almost in a full circle until he found the bus stop Kageyama had mentioned. Something told Hinata he should have come by bus in the first place. He blamed overseeing this little detail on the fact that he was always _walking_ around with Kageyama. Rubbing his gloved hands together as a means against the cold, Hinata placed himself next to the bus stop sign and waited.

Kageyama appeared from around the corner not too long after and approached the bus stop in a pace that bordered on a light jog. "Hello."

"Hey." Hinata beamed up at him.

"Sorry, the professor wouldn't finish his stupid lecture."

"It's okay. I haven't frozen to death yet."

"Good." He said it as if Hinata hadn't stated something completely obvious just now. "Let's go."

"Right." Kageyama turned around and went back the way he had come, Hinata walking on his left.

"How are you?" Hinata glanced upwards into Kageyama's face half-hidden by his scarf. Hinata pulled down his knit cap.

"Good. You?"

"Me, too!" He grinned. "I've been really excited for the past two days and I'm feeling so pumped right now!" Hinata boxed the air in front of him."

"It's just working out. There isn't much to look forward to." Kageyama chuckled, and it was a strange sound, coming from him. Hinata pulled his cap down even further so that his hands covered his burning cheeks. "Only if you like sweat and pain."

"There is something," Hinata said. His voice was rather weak but he didn't want to speak up anyway.

Kageyama had heard him regardless. "What is?"

Hinata kept his gaze fixed on snowed-on pavement. "You."

Kageyama made a sound as if choking. Hinata didn't want to look so he didn't. "What are you saying, you dumbass?"

"That I'm looking forward to spending time with you," Hinata said, a little louder this time. It was easier than the first time for sure.

"You shouldn't."

Now Hinata did look up. Kageyama's face was pink from the cold. "Why not?"

"Nobody else does."

"Wow." Hinata smiled. "These are the real dumbasses, don'tcha think?"

"Why?"

"Because they can't see past your obvious flaws and recognise you for the great person you actually are!" Hinata gestured widely with his hands even though he didn't know what this should demonstrate.

Kageyama narrowed his eyes at him. "This sounds like a load of bullshit, if you ask me."

Hinata grinned cheekily. "But I'm not asking you." Kageyama aimed a punch in his direction and Hinata dodged. "Whoa, careful there!"

"What was the part about the 'obvious flaws'?" Kageyama drew out the last two words.

"This! Aggressive behaviour and lack of social skills!" Kageyama growled and Hinata held his hands up. "But these are two things you can work on! And I said that apart from that you are a great person!"

Kageyama went back to scowling and his head snapped around to focus on where he was going. "I don't see what makes me great."

"I think it's all subconscious so you're not aware of it. Like asking to walk me home because it could be dangerous," Hinata blushed at the memory of when he had stayed at Kageyama's until it had become dark. Kageyama didn't respond verbally. He increased his already above-average pace as if he was running away from Hinata and his truths. "Hey, wait up!" Hinata called after him and took a few big steps forward to catch up to Kageyama.

Talking wasn't an option anymore so Hinata pulled his knit cap over his ears as Kageyama readjusted his scarf around the mouth. At least he was receiving a similar vibe.

After another five minutes of walking, Kageyama rounded the corner and stood in front of a gym of considerable size. Two stories emitted a warm light out into the cold winter air, and Hinata's lips quivered into a smile. "It's gigantic!"

"It's not."

"It is!"

"It's really not." Kageyama walked towards the front doors and automatic sliding doors let him and Hinata inside. Instead of having wholly divided areas, this gym floor worked with smart placements of workout gear and shelves to act as partition walls. The people working out here had their privacy but it was easy for them to navigate through various areas and not disturb anyone in the process as well. Hinata liked how light flooded everything. It looked like a warm and welcoming place.

"I will have to register first, right?"

Kageyama nodded. "Yes. I have to go to the front desk, too, anyway." Together they made their way to the said front desk. A rather buff man around Kageyama's height and age was tending to it. "Good afternoon, Iwaizumi-san."

Iwaizumi nodded at Kageyama. "Kageyama, hello." He typed something into a computer, still standing up. Then he looked up and his eyes darted to Hinata, then fixed back on Kageyama. He looked surprised. "You brought someone with you today?"

"Yes."

Hinata pushed Kageyama off to the side. There were insults ringing in his ears but he opted to talk over them. "Hello! I'd like to register."

"What's your name?" Iwaizumi pulled a form out from under his desk and handed it to Hinata together with a pen.

"Hinata Shouyou." His eyes flickered over the form as he reached out for the pen.

"All right, Hinata," he paused to make sure Hinata was all right with being called this way, "you fill this form out and you're ready to go. There's a monthly membership fee of 1000 yen flat and you pay another 700 for each hour you're here. If, for some reason, you should decide to live here, there's a cap of 20,000 yen each month. This means you can work out however much you feel like but you'll never have to pay more than those 20,000 yen, understood?"

Hinata nodded. He could feel his hair bounce due to the movement. "That's very nice!"

Iwaizumi blinked at him, then chuckled. "And if you're a member, you also don't have to worry about showering and the towels. Those are free for you."

Hinata grinned. "It's getting even better." He turned to his form and started filling it out.

"Your first time at a gym?"

"Yes! I convinced Kageyama to take me with him." Hinata took out his wallet to jot down his billing information.

"How did you do that? He's never brought anyone before, you know."

Grinning, Hinata looked up. He leaned over the counter so that the now-quiet Kageyama sitting a few metres away and waiting for slowpoke Hinata wouldn't overhear. "He suffers from a cookie addiction. And because I make his favourites, I can yank his leash however I want."

Iwaizumi chuckled. "You got guts, kiddo. I like you."

Hinata giggled. Iwaizumi was great. "I'm finished, by the way." He handed the form and the pen back.

"Then you're ready to go. Ah, I forgot to mention you can cancel your membership whenever you want. No waiting time, nothing." Iwaizumi grinned. "But I hope you have a great time now."

"Thank you!" Hinata flashed Iwaizumi a bright grin before he turned to Kageyama. "I'm ready, Kageyama!"

Kageyama looked up from his hands. It had looked like he was inspecting the lines on his palms and comparing his hands this way. "Finally."

"It didn't even take that long!"

"It felt like forever." Kageyama stood up and headed towards the changing rooms.

"Just admit that you have a skewed sense of time."

Kageyama gave Hinata one of those beyond pissed off looks, then continued towards the room as if nothing out of place had happened. They entered and Kageyama sat down on one of the benches. Hinata wanted to sit opposite him but decided that would be too suspicious so he squeezed himself between Kageyama and the wall. They changed in silence and Kageyama stowed his belongings in one of the lockers for the pledge of a 500 yen coin. Hinata followed his example, pulling the key out and binding it around his wrist as to not lose it.

"I wish I'd brought a hair tie," Hinata said when they exited the changing room.

"Your hair is long enough to tie it up?"

"Yes! It looks really cool this way." He held his hair back in one of his hands to show Kageyama.

Kageyama's eyes moved to the small, brush-like bun and immediately back to staring ahead of him. "Uh-huh. I guess it does." The tips of Kageyama's ears were a little redder, Hinata told himself.

"And when I do this, you can see my ears, right?"

"Yes."

"I told my parents I'd like to get them pierced. This would be so awesome! But they said I would look unprofessional this way and it'd be bad for business." Hinata smiled wryly. "I don't know what to do."

They stopped in front of some treadmills. Kageyama finally turned and looked at Hinata again. His gaze was intense and Hinata felt judged somehow. "I don't see why it should be bad for business... And anyway, I can't see your ears when your hair is down."

"You would if I finally got that haircut my parents are talking me into..." Hinata pouted.

"You're an adult. You can make your own choices."

"But I don't want to end up arguing with my parents either."

"Then don't get that haircut?" Kageyama sighed. "Or make sure your ears are still," he wriggled his fingers, "covered."

"Hmm..." Kageyama's arguments weren't bad, Hinata had to admit. "I'll see. I'm still undecided."

"You don't have to rush it." Kageyama was setting a program for himself already so Hinata followed suit.

They didn't have the breath to talk a lot more after this. Their conversations were made up of simple questions and either affirmative or negative grunts. Kageyama seemed to save his energy for his exercises whereas Hinata was simply flat-out done for. He was out of breath and his arms and legs hurt in the funniest places when they finished and returned to the changing room. He was in pain and sweat was running from every pore into the most uncomfortable places. Kageyama had been right about that part.

"You'll want to take a shower," Kageyama commented, pulling off his own shirt. Hinata felt like he was faint of heart. This was too much. "Your face has an unhealthy colour. Are you feverish?"

"No! I'm fine." He was just struggling with his unasked-for crush (there it was) and his lung capacity.

"Okay." Stripping off his shorts and undies, shoes and socks already messily stowed away in the locker, Kageyama asked, "You coming or not?"

Hinata averted his eyes. The ceiling sure was interesting all of a sudden. "Coming where?"

"The shower, dumbass." He headed through the door adjoining the changing room and the shower room. Hinata wanted to kill himself right then and there because otherwise he would suffer a death by heart failure and Kageyama's oblivious nonchalance.

Gripping a towel to hide his privates, Hinata followed. He wouldn't survive this. He thanked all the gods he could name and some he couldn't for good measure that Kageyama had already walked around to the other side of the room and turned on one of the shower heads. Hinata would just stay on this side, so he wouldn't risk peeking and Kageyama wouldn't be able to judge his body in return, either. Needless to say, the cooling shower was welcomed and just perfect after the workout. Hinata felt fresher than he had all day as the clean water poured over his body and washed away the sweat. He made sure to finish up fast and escape into the safety of the changing room before Kageyama. After towelling off at a speed worthy of a medal, Hinata wrapped this towel around his waist and used another one to rid his hair of the dripping water.

Kageyama returned after Hinata had pulled up his boxers. He also had nothing on display as a towel wrapped around his waist hid everything. Down there. The rest of his body was still looking good, Hinata thought as Kageyama turned his back to him after having emptied his own locker. "You're fast."

Licking his lips, Hinata said without thinking, "I didn't want us to run into each other."

"Why not?" Kageyama dropped the towel to pull on his undies and God, he sure was distracting.

"I-I didn't want us to, like, run..." Where was he going with this? Right. "Run into each other." This was what he had already said, right? Oh man. "Naked. I-It'd be weird. Two guys. Naked."

Kageyama turned around and scowled at Hinata. He didn't get anything, did he? "What?"

God save him out of this one. "Usually you're naked with... someone else... probably women instead of men..." Oh fuck, he was doomed. Hinata was doomed and Kageyama looked all the more confused.

"Why would I?"

"To engage in adult activities! How are you this stupid?"

"I don't do taxes with naked women."

Hinata face palmed. He didn't know if _that_ made his head hurt or if the soft humming had started sometime before but he figured it didn't matter. "Forget about it," he said, pulling a fresh t-shirt over his head to block Kageyama's body out for a few seconds.

Kageyama looked at him for a full four seconds, eyes narrowed in a scowl, lips parted, eyebrows drawn together. Then he turned back around and went back to dressing himself, working the towel through his hair from time to time. Hinata was pulling on his boots already by the time Kageyama spoke again. "How was it?"

"Huh?" Hinata looked up after he had finished tying one of them.

Kageyama wrapped his scarf around his neck. "Working out. How was it?"

"It was great! I feel so... strong? I accomplished more than I thought I would."

"You still have ways to go, though."

"I'm aware!" Hinata grit his teeth. "But my expectations were even lower. And I'll continue working out so I become better in no time!"

Kageyama grinned. His grins had something mischievous about them, Hinata thought, but he felt the swell in his chest at the sight all the same. Perhaps Kageyama was proud of him, too, and it just didn't translate too well into his expression. "That's the spirit."

"Thanks." Hinata returned the grin with one of his bright, cheerful ones. His cheeks were warm. "What about you? How did you like working out?"

Kageyama licked his lips. "I've never worked out with anyone else before." Hinata's face lit up even more only to turn into an openly offended look when Kageyama added, "But it's good too see my progress so far. You're no match for me."

Pointing at Kageyama with an already gloved finger, Hinata said, "Just you'll see! I'll have you flat on your butt before you can say, 'Hinata Shouyou sucks'!"

Kageyama stood up and slung his messenger back over his shoulder. "Try me." He smirked. "Hinata Shouyou sucks."

"Hey!" Hinata stood up as well, grabbing his things in the process, and tried getting a hold of the ever elusive Kageyama who slipped through the changing room door.

He ran after him through the lobby and out the front doors, Iwaizumi calling after them, "Still not finished, you two?"

"Sorry!" Hinata shouted to be heard despite running in the opposite direction. As soon as he left the gym, he looked around himself but Kageyama seemed to have escaped. "Great. Perfect." Hinata heaved a few breaths. "Kageyama! Where are you?" No answer. Hinata did a full 360 degrees turn but couldn't spot him anywhere. Stupid man. Hinata folded his arms and began the hike home. After about five minutes of treading through freshly fallen snow, he heard footsteps behind him closing in on him. Hinata was already fed up enough as it was, so he turned around. "Stop fo--"

It was Kageyama, smirking with obvious self-satisfaction. "Well?" he asked.

"You won this round," Hinata narrowed his eyes at him, "but you're still an asshole!"

Kageyama's smirk vanished to be replaced by an angry scowl. "What was that?"

"It's true! You're mean!" Hinata pouted. He didn't want to fight. "Meanie giant."

Kageyama snorted. "The opportunity was just too good to pass by," he said, and they fell into step beside each other.

"Your sense of humour is twisted." Hinata shoved his hands into his coat's pockets.

"So is yours."

Hinata chuckled. "Maybe." Snow began falling again, tiny flakes catching the setting sunlight. "Thanks for walking me home."

"I'm doing it for the cookies."

"I still appreciate it." Hinata smiled up at Kageyama. When he noticed, he turned his head back to stare straight ahead. "C'mon, you can admit you're a little nice, deep down, buried beneath all the meanie."

Kageyama huffed. "How have I descended from 'great person' to 'a little nice meanie'?"

"Aw, you worrying about my opinion?" Hinata grinned. His cheeks were hot and his heart was beating faster than usual.

"No." It came too fast and sounded too final to be true.

Hinata ignored him. "You are a great person, don't get me wrong. The 'meanie' part is more... affectionate-like. It's like a nickname."

"I don't have nicknames."

"Now you do!"

"I don't like it. Just call me Kageyama."

Hinata sighed. He didn't want to irritate him. "All right, Kageyama. As you wish."

"See? That's good."

"It's not personal at all!"

Kageyama gave him a look. "Why should it be?"

"Because we're friends, duh! And friends have secret codes and insiders and so on." Hinata smiled and shrugged. "Well, there's still time for that to flourish, I suppose."

"Yeah."

Hinata's smile widened. There was no need to press the issue. Pulling down his knit cap, he said, "Thanks for taking me with you today."

"It's fine."

"No, it's not. Not really. I pretty much pressured you into this so I want to apologise." He stopped walking and waited until Kageyama caught on. "I'm sorry."

"I told you it's fine," Kageyama said. "If it were bothering me, I wouldn't have agreed to go to the gym with you."

"Still, it feels like I have treated you unfairly."

"You haven't."

Hinata sighed and they resumed walking. "How about a next time? Us, going to the gym together?"

Kageyama shrugged. "I don't mind."

"You said it's good for you to have a partner."

"I did." Kageyama nodded. "But I also said that you still have a lot of catching up to do to become something akin to my equal when it comes to sports."

"That's all right with me." Hinata grinned at Kageyama. "I took the first step today and I'm stubborn. I won't give up that easily."

"Sounds good to me." Kageyama smiled, albeit only for a second.

Hinata did still catch it, and his heart fluttered. Kageyama's smiles were earnest and pure and beautiful. Failing to suppress his giggles, he said, "It'll be easiest to text about the when, don'tcha agree?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then promise me to become better at texting."

Kageyama looked down at Hinata's teasing voice. "I'm already better than when I started out."

Hinata snorted. "C'mon, that's a given. And I promised you I'd work on my muscles, so it's only fair to do something in return. It's not like texting is a bad skill to master." Kageyama mumbled something under his breath, but all Hinata could make out was the hum of his voice. "What was that?"

"I said," Kageyama was speaking up although he was still talking into his scarf, "you have a point."

"Yay!" Hinata was still giggling. He didn't care. He was high on some strange sort of ecstasy, and his hormones, and Kageyama's friendliness and willingness to change a little. Due to him.

Kageyama grunted once and their conversation ebbed out. The sun was setting fast and the street lights were already illuminating their surroundings when Hinata noticed the change. A few snowflakes were still falling.

"You know," Hinata said, "it was snowing when I made the first batch of those cookies you love so much."

"Aha." Kageyama straightened his back. "What are you telling me this for?"

Hinata shrugged. "I don't know. I just remembered."

"Okay." They fell into silence again and reached Hinata's bakery and home before too soon. "We're here."

Hinata chuckled. "I noticed." He strode towards the back entrance. When Kageyama remained rooted to the spot, Hinata turned and shouted, "C'mon! You wanted those cookies, right?"

"Y-Yes." Kageyama made a beeline for Hinata and together they entered through the back door into the kitchen. Kageyama's eyes roamed through the room.

Hinata headed towards the rather depleted-already cookie stack and waved Kageyama towards him. "You're lucky. There aren't that many left."

"Is it okay if I just take them?"

"Why shouldn't it be?"

"Because I didn't buy anything else."

Hinata chuckled. "But you spent your precious free time with me and this is payment enough, don'tcha think?"

"No."

Sighing, Hinata said, "C'mon, you didn't walk me home for nothing, did you? And we had days when we had cookies over but we prefer to give away the fresh ones so I had to eat, like, 50 cookies that night! My stomach didn't agree."

"Too much information." Kageyama chuckled, though.

"Point is, it's a relief if you take some of the cookies with you." Hinata walked over to a cupboard and, after pulling off his gloves and stuffing them into his coat's pockets, took a paper bag from it. "Do you mind if I just touch the cookies?"

"No." When Hinata gave him a look, Kageyama added, "Go ahead."

"No short answers with me," Hinata said as he stuffed the bag until it wouldn't hold any more before rolling the top end up. "I like how your voice sounds when you're not angry. Then it gets that scary undertone." He mock-shivered.

"Well, thank you," Kageyama snapped.

"I said you have a nice voice! Be happy for once." Hinata didn't want to argue so he pushed the bag into Kageyama's hands. "Here you go. Happiness for you." Whoops. He hadn't bitten his tongue in time.

Kageyama blinked. He looked dumbfounded for some reason Hinata didn't understand. "Thank you," he said then, in a tone so different from the one before that the blood rushed up into Hinata's head. Ah yes, this was the voice he was talking about. "They're going to help me through my finals."

"You have finals coming up?"

"Yes."

Hinata wrung his hands. "I didn't know. Good luck!"

"Th-thanks."

"When do they start?"

"Tomorrow."

What. "What?! You should have spent the day learning instead of hanging out with me!"

Kageyama shrugged. "It's okay. I'm a binge learner anyway. And today's far from over. It just gets dark way too early."

Hinata sighed. "Well, if you say so."

"Yes." Kageyama nodded. "It's fine."

"I don't want to hold you up, though." Hinata's eyes darted to the side, then back to Kageyama. "Like, you don't have to stay here for another hour or two, you can just go home! No hard feelings."

"Yes. I'd appreciate that."

Hinata took a deep breath. It was now or never, seeing as Kageyama was already stowing the cookies away safely in his coat and ready to turn around. "You remember your objection against public displays of affection?"

Kageyama's eyes narrowed. "What is this about?"

"A goodbye hug." Hinata smiled at him.

Kageyama's look of suspicion only grew. "What if someone walks in?"

Hinata rolled his eyes. "Come on. You always have something to nag about, don't you?"

"I just don't want to be caught... doing this..."

"You won't. Nobody's gonna come in."

"How do you know?"

Hinata shrugged. "I don't, okay? I just want the hug." He pouted.

Kageyama blinked and said, voice so small that it was hard to make out over the constant hum of the oven, "Make it quick."

Face flushing, Hinata wrapped his arms around Kageyama who returned the gesture with much less force. Hinata told himself he could feel the muscles of his arms through the fabric of his coat nonetheless. He loved the way Kageyama smelled and he wanted him to rest his chin on his hair. Height differences could be stupid, Hinata knew, but in situations such as these they could also be great. His heart beat fast against his chest, and he didn't care whether Kageyama noticed or not.

Hinata could feel Kageyama let go and step back before he was ready to let go himself. He obliged, though; scaring Kageyama away or, at the very least, making him feel more awkward than he had to was not what he'd intended.

"Ah, that was nice," Hinata said. Kageyama didn't even look at him, staring off to the side. He didn't react at all, so Hinata took the hint and said, "Get home well. And don't put off studying any longer."

Kageyama's look was colder than Hinata had expected when he turned his head back towards him. "Are you my mum?"

"No," Hinata rolled his eyes, "I just care about you."

Kageyama exhaled loudly and his expression softened. "Okay. I'll... text you when I'm home."

"Thanks! I was just about to ask." Grinning and blushing, Hinata led Kageyama out the door they had entered through. He stayed standing outside, watching Kageyama's form become slower and harder to make out in the dark until he couldn't see him anymore. Then, Hinata went back inside into the warm and welcoming kitchen.

* * *

This night, Hinata reached a decision.

He had been lying awake for longer than usual, his phone spending the only illumination in his room as he scrolled through the short list of texts he and Kageyama had exchanged so far. It was stupid, he told himself, but he couldn't seem to stop himself either. His heart was beating at a faster pace than usual, neither racing nor uncomfortable, and there was a flutter every time he thought of Kageyama's smile or his general positive change of attitude towards Hinata.

He didn't want to fool himself, however, and he simply couldn't tell with Kageyama. He didn't want to scare him away as much as he didn't want to give up on the what-if. And least of all he wanted to be trapped in this stupid vicious circle going from "tell him" to "don't tell him" and back around.

So he reached his decision: He would tell Kageyama of his rapidly growing crush.

The only question left now was _how_.

"Ugh." Hinata turned over to his side. He didn't have the time to do more thinking; he had to get up early tomorrow. Throwing his phone across the floor, he squeezed his eyes shut and hoped for the sweet release of sleep.

* * *

"You look tired," Kageyama said when he let a yawning Hinata in.

"Sorry. I haven't slept well the past few days." He stifled another yawn. Goddammit, it was four in the afternoon! "I mean nights."

"Okay." After hanging up his coat and bag and exchanging his shoes for slippers, Hinata followed Kageyama into his cramped kitchen. His back was turned to Hinata. "Has... Has anything been bothering you?"

So if he wanted to he could be observant. Hinata gulped. "No." His laugh sounded too fake. Kageyama would notice. "Everything's all right. It's probably just the wrong sleeping position or something as simple as that." Now how was he going to do this, breach the subject, talk about his feelings? Hinata had it all planned out: Going over to Kageyama's because he would likely be most comfortable in his own apartment, away from sisters barging in and mothers trying to talk to him. But all that Hinata felt was his increasing heartbeat and a rush of light-headedness. He kind of wanted to throw up and at the same time only show his best sides to Kageyama.

"Do you want a coffee?"

Hinata sat down at the table, leaned back and closed his eyes. "Yes, please."

"How do you like it?" Kageyama asked as he started his coffee machine.

"Black, like my soul."

"What the fuck?"

Hinata giggled. "Just kidding. My soul is pure. But a strong, black coffee would be best for me I think."

"...Okay." There was only the clanking of mugs and then the noise the coffee machine made when it ground the beans and heated the water. When it quieted down again, Kageyama spoke, barely a whisper, "What do you think about people who don't prefer it black?"

Hinata opened his eyes and looked at Kageyama. His back was still turned. Hinata couldn't shake off the impression that Kageyama was talking about himself. "Nothing," he said, shrugging. "Should it be a problem?"

"You might think them a softie... a wimp..."

"Just because their taste buds work differently or something?"

Kageyama shrugged. "Hell if I know." He turned and handed Hinata one of the nondescript mugs, then poured a generous amount of milk into the other one. So he had been right; Kageyama was making sure. Hinata grinned and his heart fluttered at the revelation. His opinion mattered to Kageyama! "What are you smiling about like an idiot?" He sat down opposite Hinata.

"Nothing," Hinata said and couldn't quite keep the giggle out of his voice. "I'm just happy."

"I thought you were tired."

Hinata took a sip from his coffee. It was strong and he told himself he felt the caffeine working through him already. "That, too. You can have more than one emotion at a time, you know."

Kageyama scowled at him. "Yes, I know." He kept frowning, down into his own mug, before drinking from it. Then the lines in his face smoothed out again and back was the look of mild disinterest he usually wore.

"Thanks for the coffee," Hinata said after the silence between them began to stretch. "It's really good."

"It's nothing special." Kageyama's gaze was fixed on his mug. "It's some cheap no-name blend."

"Doesn't matter. It's doing its work!" Hinata made sure to grin when Kageyama looked up at him. "I already feel much more awake than I have in days."

"You should really make sure you get more sleep."

"Like I said, I was just lying in the wrong position!" Despite his words, Hinata was touched. The Kageyama before him was nothing like the angry costumer from a few weeks ago. "By the way, I brought a DVD. If you'd like to watch a movie again."

"Hm, okay." Mug in hand, Kageyama headed into his living room. Hinata dashed back to the coat rack and pulled the DVD case out of his bag, then made his way into the living room to join Kageyama. He was pressing buttons on his DVD player. When the disc drive slid open, Kageyama said, "Give it here," and held his hand out towards Hinata.

Hinata handed over the DVD case. "We've watched a horror movie and a Ghibli one together already, so I thought it'd be time for a romcom."

"What's a romcom?" Kageyama asked as he inserted the DVD into his DVD player. He took his sweet time turning on his TV and setting it to the right channel, as if he didn't know what all those buttons on his remote were for. Seeing as those buttons were the ones used most often, though, Hinata suspected that today was just a slow day for Kageyama.

"A romantic comedy. There's romance and things to laugh about. It's great!"

"Oh. I guess." Kageyama turned and walked the two metres to his couch, Hinata following him close behind.

"C'mon, sound a little more excited for once! I'm telling you, there's a reason so many people love romcoms!"

Kageyama scrunched up his nose. "I'm not sure I'm going to like it."

"Why not?" Hinata asked. The title music started blasting from the TV speakers and Kageyama, jumping half a foot into the air, turned down the volume as soon as he reached the TV remote. Hinata held his ears until he was sure the attack on them was over. "Wow. I almost went deaf there."

Kageyama kept staring at the screen. His eyes narrowed at the lead couple. "Sorry. Home-made sports DVDs always have shit sound. You can't understand a thing if you don't crank up the volume."

"You watch those for your degree?"

Kageyama nodded. "Yes. Writing analyses of them and what not."

"But... What's that got to do with sports medicine?" Hinata's eyebrows drew down.

"Well, I only get to watch those matches where someone falls flat on their face or gets hit in the face with something. It's about how I would treat them." He turned and looked at Hinata. "It's boring as fuck. You don't get to do anything practical. And I'll go into either physiotherapy or rehab so there's no point in watching people kick footballs into each other's faces all day."

Hinata snorted. "Sorry, it just sounded funny. It probably isn't."

Kageyama shook his head. One side of his mouth twitched upwards, though. "Hurts like a bitch I've been told. Sometimes they knock their teeth out or break their noses." He shivered.

Hinata made a face and an accompanying sound somewhere back in his throat. He didn't know what either of these propositions felt like, but did he want to know? Nope. "Let's start the movie, at least that's gonna be good."

Kageyama hit the start button on the other remote and slumped backwards into his couch. Hinata slipped out of the slippers and drew his feet up to the couch like he had last time. A quick look towards Kageyama assured him that he didn't care. During the first half of the movie, Hinata made sure to glance at Kageyama whenever one of the more romantic scenes played. Kageyama's eyes were fixed on the screen but his face gave no indication whatsoever as to what he was thinking or feeling. He just looked impassive and bored.

"By the way, Kageyama," Hinata said, heart beating so fast it seemed like it wanted to break out of his chest. This would be an important question, after all.

"Hm? What?"

Hinata knew the guy would confess in three... two... one... And there was kissing on the screen and sappy music playing in the background. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No." That answer sure came quick. Kageyama's eyes were still fixed on the screen but he didn't seem to care what was going on.

So good so far as answers went. "Or," Hinata took a deep breath of air, "a boyfriend perhaps?"

"What?" Kageyama's whole body turned towards Hinata. His lips were parted in disbelief at the question.

Hinata raised his hands. "I didn't mean this in an offensive way! I was just wondering if you," were taken, "had a significant other."

Kageyama snorted. "No." He shook his head. "Never."

"Never?" The word came out in a high-pitched breath. Had Kageyama never been with anyone? He was 23; Hinata had supposed he had.

"I don't," Kageyama gestured at the TV screen, "believe in working relationships." Oh. So that's why he said he didn't like romance movies. Hinata swallowed. "No one's ever liked me. I prefer being alone." Kageyama shrugged. "It's how it's supposed to be."

"You don't seem to mind _me_ taking up some of your free time."

Kageyama pushed air out of his nose and turned back to the television. "You said we were friends."

Hinata raised an eyebrow. His heart was beating faster again. "You sure never have."

Kageyama blushed up to his ears at that. "I have!" He folded his arms, pulling his left one away from behind Hinata. "A few seconds ago."

"Took you long enough." Hinata chuckled to show that he didn't mean this in an angry way. He turned his head to the almost-forgotten movie where the couple were having some misunderstandings with locals on their trip abroad. "What about other friends? Met anyone new in the couple last weeks?"

"Why," Kageyama asked, and his voice sounded a little too measured for Hinata's liking, "are you taking such a sudden interest in my private life?"

"I'm not." Hinata folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "I asked because I'm concerned. You need more friends."

Kageyama's eyes narrowed. "You don't know anything about that."

Hinata sighed. He didn't want to fight. "Yeah? If you say so." He pouted and turned back to the TV. At least everything was working out for the couple on screen. He could feel Kageyama stare at him. After a few minutes Hinata couldn't take it anymore. Head snapping towards Kageyama, he asked, "What?"

"I..." Kageyama closed his mouth and his eyes focussed on a point somewhere behind Hinata, then back at him. "I'm sorry. I was kind of snappish there."

"It's okay," Hinata said and unfolded his arms to massage his temples. This was giving him a slight headache. Why couldn't it be a little easier with Kageyama? "I was too nosy. It's fine."

Kageyama huffed and turned to the movie. So that was that, huh. His expression grew bored in a manner of seconds and he looked like he was sleeping with his eyes open.

Sighing, Hinata tried watching the rest of the movie in peace but he couldn't concentrate at all. He had been so close and now everything was running through his hands like sand. He felt kind of shitty. Figuring it couldn't do more harm, he leaned into Kageyama's chest. At least he received a cuddling session this way. And didn't take all that long for his heart doing somersaults again. Well. "Kageyama-kun." The credits were only a few seconds away.

"Yeah?" He sounded tired. Had he really been daydreaming?

"I've been meaning to tell you for days."

"What are you talking about?"

There the credits were, accompanied by the sappiest song Hinata had ever heard. "Please don't get angry at me."

Kageyama's arms around him tensed. "Is there reason to?"

"Perhaps. I don't know." Hinata swallowed. "I tried breaching the subject but your reactions weren't the ones I had been bargaining for."

He didn't see it but Hinata knew, he just _knew_ , that Kageyama narrowed his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Gathering his nerves and all his confidence, Hinata blurted, "I kinda like you. In a romantic way."

At first Kageyama didn't react at all. His arms slackened, then tensed again, and after the credits had stopped rolling and there was only silence for a few seconds before the DVD rewound to the main menu, he had processed Hinata's words. Face reddening more by the second, Kageyama yelled, "What the actual fuck?!" He pushed Hinata away from him, causing the smaller man to hit the table and fall onto the floor.

This was the worst. Hinata had fucked up big time. He gulped, trying to hide his hurt, but his eyes were already full with wet tears he couldn't suppress if he'd wanted to. "What's wrong with you?"

"That's what I should be asking you!" Kageyama stood up, and he was all shadows and angry lines, his form towering over Hinata. He was intimidating when he was losing it, and Hinata feared he might soon be on the wrong end of some furniture pieces. He was already scrambling to his feet to make a run for it when Kageyama pointed towards his apartment's front door and hissed, "Get the fuck away from me."

Hinata made for the door, just grabbing his coat and shoes on his way out, not bothering to pull them on in Kageyama's presence. Tears stung his eyes as he escaped into the cold hallway. He sat down on the sets of stairs winding down and put on his shoes first so he could walk away as soon as possible. He could still pull on his coat and knit cap when he was outside. Perhaps the cold would numb him a little this way.

* * *

His phone buzzed. Hinata ignored it. He wasn't in the mood to chat. Then it buzzed again. And again. And again... Instead of bothering to look at it, Hinata worked the backside open and took the battery out. He was so not in the mood for this.

A knock on his door was the next thing that irritated him. Why couldn't he sulk and cry in peace? "What?" he asked. He didn't want to sound so snappish, especially not at someone who hadn't done him any wrong, but here he was, barking like an angry dog.

"It's me, Natsu."

"What do you want?" Ugh, his voice sounded all wrong to him what with his nose clogged up from all those fluids coming loose from crying.

"To check up on you! You sound like someone died."

Hinata laughed hollowly. "You're not that far off." He wiped his face with his pillow for the umpteenth time today. It was already wet and gross.

"Can I come in? You obviously need someone to talk to."

"If I wanted to, I'd already done that."

Natsu cracked his door open and stuck her face in just so she could roll his eyes at him. "I know how you get. You haven't talked to anyone about it and now you're crying your eyes out."

Hinata made a point of turning away from her and folded his arms. "This is so not true!"

"It is," she closed the door behind her after entering the room, "and we both know it. So I'd really appreciate it if you talked to me about it. Eating it all up isn't doing you any good." The mattress creaked as she sat down next to him.

Hinata half-turned his head towards Natsu. He wanted to glare her down but his vision was blurry and he knew he wouldn't look intimidating at all with a face all red from emotion and tears.

"You know, you look like a mess." Her eyes darted to his pillow and back. "And this," she pointed at the offending thing, "is disgusting." Hinata opened his mouth to explain, but Natsu talked right over him. "I don't want to know what happened to this pillow. You're going to wash it. Throw it out. Right now."

"Yes, mum." Hinata sobbed. Natsu was the one glaring. Her hair made her look like an angry lion and Hinata didn't want to push his luck; it hadn't worked out earlier today either. Dragging his feet over the floor, he picked the pillow up at one end and held it away from him as far as possible, then threw it into the hamper downstairs. Someone else could deal with it. He ran back upstairs as fast as he could and jumped face first onto his bed. He didn't want anyone to see him.

Natsu was still there, of course. "What happened, anyway?" When Hinata didn't answer in favour of sobbing into his bedsheets, Natsu shook his shoulders. "Shouyou! I'm talking to you and demanding an answer!"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Natsu's pout was audible. "It's that scary guy you hang out with, right? You went to him earlier today." When Hinata didn't deny it, she went on. "What on earth did he do to you? I swear he's going to pay for whatever he did! And leave you behind in such a state!"

Hinata turned his head. It was easier breathing this way. "He didn't do anything."

"Okay, then lemme rephrase my question: What happened?" Her hands were still on Hinata's shoulders but not moving anymore. It felt reassuring that someone else was there and willing to listen even if he didn't want to spill too much.

Hinata took a deep breath. He wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. "ItoldKageyamaIlikehimandhethrewmeout."

Natsu blinked at him. "Pardon me?"

Voice shaking, Hinata tried again. "I told Kageyama that..." He swallowed. "That I like him." His face was burning. "And then he got angry at me for some reason and told me to go home so I did and since then I've been in my room and contemplating my poor life choices." It was funny how everything spilled out all of a sudden when he didn't really want to talk about it. Hinata barked a hollow laugh. He was so done.

Natsu rolled his eyes and shuffled closer to Hinata. He was sitting up now and Natsu went for a much needed hug. "What's wrong with him?"

Hinata chuckled. Tears were streaming down his face. They wouldn't stop. "Funny. I asked him the same thing. He just threw the question back at me."

"Ugh. He's a grown-up adult! Why can't he make normal conversation?"

Hinata shrugged against Natsu. "Don't ask me. He keeps saying he's bad with people. I noticed."

"That's no reason to behave like a twelve-year-old! He's got to deal with it." Heaving another ragged, exasperated sigh, Natsu pulled Hinata even closer to herself. "You two need to talk this out."

"I never want to talk to him again..."

"Then you're no better, you hypocrite!" She shook him. "You're 23, for God's sake, you're amazing with people, you have had these kinds of talks before and so far you've come out of all of them unscathed and perfectly fine!"

"You're right." Hinata sobbed into Natsu's shoulder. He was so glad he had her.

Natsu patted his head. "Of course I am! I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding. I bet you 500 yen it is."

Hinata snorted. "The bet's on."

"Good. And now stop drenching my clothes in tears and snot, all right?"

"Yes, mum."

Natsu pushed Hinata away from her with an accentuated pout. She headed to his door and already had it open when she turned around again and said, "Everything's going to be just fine. And if not, you can always bake something. You know, I've seen you doing this, kneading the dough and all, and I could tell from your expression that you love this. It's your passion. And no scary dude can take that from you." Turning around and leaving him to his own devices, she added, "And put that battery back in your phone, Shouyou." Damn it.

* * *

Hinata put it back the following morning. Despite the refreshing talk with his sister, he wasn't ready to face whatever kind of bullshit Kageyama would be throwing at him next that day. He dreaded what he would be seeing when he turned on his phone so he pretended not to care and didn't look at the screen. When he did risk a peek, five minutes had ticked by, and true to his premonition there were new messages from Kageyama waiting for him.

Hinata opened them only to be preoccupied with the scenery outside his window. The sun was shining and melting away snow and ice, making all the affected surfaces sparkle. It was a beautiful, peaceful morning and Hinata didn't want it to end.

Sighing, he turned to his phone. The screen had blacked out during the time he spent admiring the weather. Perhaps this was a sign... But Hinata told himself not to fool himself. Natsu was right: He had to face his problems instead of running away from them. So he checked his messages.

There wasn't any problem to face after all.

Because, as it turned out, all the messages Kageyama had sent him after their fall out were either apologies or full of concern for Hinata's well-being. And this was _Kageyama_ who had sent more than 30 messages in a manner of hours, scared, introverted, anti-social, communication-averted Kageyama. It would be an understatement to say that Hinata was merely touched by this fact alone, not to mention the actual content of the messages which ranged from one-word statements and questions to texts coming close to breaking the character limit.

Hinata's finger moved of its own accord and pressed the call button. He held his phone close to his ear, waiting for the repetitive ringing to end and be replaced by Kageyama's voice.

He took his sweet time to pick up, and when he did, the first word that would be ringing in Hinata's head for at least the following five minutes was a too loud and shocked sounding, "Hinata?"

"That's me." Hinata smiled.

"What... How... How come you're calling...?" Kageyama asked. He sounded defensive and defenceless at the same time, his voice alternating between too loud and too quiet, his tone going from a deep rumble to a high-pitched squeal as if his voice was breaking. At 23. Right.

Chuckling, Hinata said, "I talked to Natsu yesterday and now I saw your messages and I think we need to talk this out. In peace."

"Yes. We do."

Hinata bit his lip. "Wanna talk now or meet up?"

"What would you prefer?"

Okay, this was a new one. Hinata was still nervous about it, though. "Talk it over in person. It's better if you can see the other's expressions, you know?"

"I... understand." Didn't Kageyama want to face him? "Okay."

"But I can only do this if you promise me that you won't lose it again. I was scared for my life there."

"...Then why do you want to see me again?"

"Because I trust you. You overreacted."

"I did. And... Hinata, listen. I'm sorry. I didn't know--"

"Save it for later. Wanna come over?"

Kageyama hummed. "Okay. I can make four in the afternoon."

"Want me to pick you up somewhere so you don't have to run into my mum?" Hinata chuckled.

Kageyama's, "Yes," was so final that he accepted this.

"You know the back entrance, right? I'll wait there for you at four sharp."

"Okay. Later." And he hung up.

* * *

Hinata was aware that getting dressed for waiting right outside a warm kitchen was bordering on redundant but here he was, pulling on his trusty coat. He grabbed his keys before slipping into the mittens his grandmother had hand knit him and exited out the door. It was two to four according to his phone, and Kageyama was nowhere to be seen.

The snow only hadn't melted away in the places where it had been shovelled into hills. The sun was standing at an angle already, stretching the shadows into horizontal slendermen. Hinata giggled at the thought. That's when Kageyama appeared out of nowhere right in front of his face. "Hey."

Hinata jumped. "H-Hi!" Oh boy could Kageyama pull off the casual winter beanie look. Knowing Kageyama, though, he wasn't even aware of this. "Let's go inside," Hinata said, turning around and sliding the key into the lock so Kageyama wouldn't see his stupid blush. Which would not be that important because Kageyama already knew that Hinata liked him.

"How are you?" It sounded more like a statement than a question but Hinata was willing to give credit where it was due.

"Better than I thought I would be. You?"

"I'm fine." They made their way through the kitchen. "You have cupcakes."

"Yes! You can take one or two upstairs if you want to. They should be still warm." Kageyama pulled off his gloves and grabbed a cupcake each with his hands, then followed Hinata upstairs into his room, setting the cupcakes aside while he was getting out of the winter attire. Hinata sat down on his bed when they reached his room and gestured to the chair. "Sit down." When Kageyama looked over to the bed in confusion, Hinata added, "I don't want crumbs on my bed."

"I see." Kageyama sat down on the chair indicated and set both cupcakes on the desk. "Will you hear me out?"

Hinata nodded and threw in a smile he was not quite feeling. "Of course." He dreaded what he would be hearing but there was no going back now. And this was important.

"I'm sorry. I overreacted, and I want to apologise." Kageyama bowed his head and stared at the floor. "I've never been with anyone. Romantically. No one has ever confessed to me. I didn't know how to deal with the situation at all and I needed some time to think about it all. So I did the one thing I'm good at which is making people afraid of me and making them not bother me."

Hinata swallowed. This was sad in a way. "What do you mean, not romantically?"

Kageyama looked at him through his fringe. "What does it sound like?"

"Affairs. One-night-stands."

"Bingo."

"Oh, come on... Have you never liked anyone?"

"I have but... so far it's only brought on pain. I don't talk about it." Kageyama half-spun around on the chair to take hold of one of the cupcakes. "Sorry, I sound like a fucking emo." His smile was forced and close to a slasher smile. It made Hinata shiver.

"You sound bitter about it but please don't... don't hate yourself for this."

Kageyama snorted. "I don't hate myself. I'm just..." He took a bite out of the cupcake, chewed, and shrugged. "I don't even know what I'm missing out on. It makes me sad and angry at myself." Hinata was already opening his mouth when Kageyama went on, setting the cupcake aside. "For falling for the wrong people. Getting too invested when I was just good for a couple of casual fucks." He dry-washed his face. "I hope you understand now."

Hinata nodded. "I do. And I accept your apology under one condition."

"Which is?" Kageyama eyed Hinata with suspicion and reached for the half-eaten cupcake again.

"Please don't lash out on me in this calibre again." Hinata looked down at his clasped hands. "It was... not brutal, exactly, but you made me cry." He swallowed. "It hurt."

"I won't." Kageyama bowed his head again. His hair hid his expression like a curtain. "I feel so horrible about this and like I can never set things right again."

"I already told you it's fine, Kageyama-kun. You can't change the past but you can regret your decisions and make sure stupid stuff will never happen again." When Kageyama looked up again, Hinata made sure to flash him a welcoming smile. He meant what he'd said, after all.

The corners of Kageyama's mouth quivered upwards, and he quickly hid it with the cupcake he was holding, shoving the whole thing into his mouth and averting his blushing face. Well, his profile was a nice sight, too, Hinata knew, still smiling. When Kageyama had finished the cupcake, his head snapped back around to Hinata, nose and tips of his ears still pink with embarrassment. "What now?"

"What do you mean?"

"We've talked. Are we friends now or...?"

Hinata blinked, then grinned. "We've always been friends, stupid! We just had a little misunderstanding and now it's been solved."

"So everything's back to how it was before...?" Kageyama sounded even more unsure as he had with the question before.

Hinata shrugged but the casualness was just a pretence. His mouth and throat felt dry all of a sudden. There was still a lot he didn't know about Kageyama and why he sometimes acted so out of place. "If you want to."

"I'm asking because I can't just forget what you told me yesterday." Kageyama reached for the other cupcake. "That you..." he gestured widely, "you know."

"Like you."

Kageyama swallowed. "Yes. Do you still--"

"Yes." Hinata's cheeks were burning. "I can't make these feelings go away just like that. Either you reciprocate them or you don't. I will still be your friend either way so please don't worry about it." Kageyama was making a point of chewing the cupcake instead of answering, so Hinata added, "If it's not bothering you, of course!"

Kageyama shook his head so fast that his hair whipped around his face. It was funny and did a great job at killing Hinata's oncoming anxiety. "When I thought it all through yesterday," and here came the shrinking violin, "I realised I... might kind of... like you back..."

Hinata leaned forward to catch all of that; Kageyama was damn hard to understand when he was whispering. "Did I hear that right?" he asked when he was sure Kageyama was done speaking.

"I said," Kageyama took a deep breath and now his voice was so loud that the words would be ringing in Hinata's head for hours after (which was not a bad thing, he decided afterwards), "I aggressively care about you!"

Hinata jumped up in the air, a scream part excitement, part absolute bliss working through him like static. He crashed onto Kageyama's lap and they couldn't hold their balance, landing on the floor with various degrees of ouches and laughter. Hinata couldn't care less -- all he wanted was to snuggle Kageyama and squeeze him and spoil him with all the sweets and cookies he wanted to have. And he tasted just like that: Like cinnamon and powdered sugar, like icing and sweet milk.

**Author's Note:**

> hijackedbylou.tumblr.com


End file.
